The house that waited.
In 1974, Naïma Benjelloun — pharmacist, pioneer, and dreamer — built a house in Beni Mellal inspired by the cedar forests of Michlifen-Ifrane. She gave it 26 doors and windows because she loved light and air. She had no idea she was building a painter's house.
Her son YouS grew up here. Left for North America. Spent years wandering — from a Van Gogh puzzle that stopped him cold, to a late-night revelation that led him to oil painting. In 2009, he came back carrying a 50-metre canvas roll.
The moment he began to paint here, he understood. The light from the 26 openings. The ventilation that keeps oil fumes moving. The bedroom chimney — unlit for 30 years — that he lit for the first time that winter.
"The house was waiting. I just had to return."
— YouS Sufi