Why is Moroccan henna so awesome?
We are obsessed with Moroccan henna; it’s a love affair that started 25 years ago, before it was easy to find images online and our desire to see more and more Moroccan henna was often thwarted. One of our founders, Kenzi (that’s me writing this) lived in Morocco and travelled there often; during one of those trip my Moroccan husband suggested I get henna. Not knowing what it was but being open-minded I agreed. The family called their favorite henna artist who arrived, made her henna paste on the spot, grabbed my hand and pulled out a syringe. Still I just took it all it and let it happen. She used that syringe to suck up the henna paste from a small tea glass and then pushed the plunger to make the henna flow from the blunt tip. I remember her speed and precision creating the design on my hand. When I thought she couldn’t fit another bit of design in there I pulled my hand away assuming she was done but she grabbed it back, and continued the design. At the end I had the most amazing lacy designs all over both sides of both hands. The only thought I can recall having was “wow, I could never do this!” This was my first experience of the awesomeness of henna, using the word in its true meaning: I was awed.
Since I’d never heard of henna or even what it was or how it worked, my only knowledge of it was that it was a Moroccan art form. Later, when I had started to learn how to do henna, I realized that it was done in many other countries. When I started I guessed at the henna paste recipe, used a weird bottle with a metal nib to apply it (didn’t know how to get a syringe) and drew a checkerboard design in my palm, a typical element of Moroccan henna, and I was hooked. Every trip back to Morocco I was talking to henna artists, learning from them, watching them work, and also talking to the women in my husband’s family about everything henna related.
This was the late 90s and all the white people knew about henna was that Madonna had it on in a music video, and there were cringe-y photos of Gwen Stefani dressed as an Indian bride wearing henna. In a henna forum I met my fellow Mektoub founder, Jenpa who was a kid at the time, loved henna and also thought Moroccan henna was amazing. The two of us became a force of nature, doing research on an internet before Instagram and YouTube, asking friends of friends if they knew any Moroccans who had henna photos, interviewing people in Morocco about henna, and amassing a huge library of images and information about how henna is used in Morocco. We’ve been at that game for nearly 25 years, and with greater internet access we have met a whole bunch of amazing Moroccan henna artists, in Morocco and also in the Moroccan diaspora. And now we are working to connect these amazing artists to henna artists around the world, to share their Moroccan henna art. We want to amplify the artists who do this amazing art, and ensure that everyone knows how uniquely wonderful Moroccan henna art is, and can see the work of these artists, and even learn from them.
Some thoughts from the Mektoub team about why Moroccan henna is so awesome.
Kenzi: Moroccan henna is the very opposite of everything you see about henna on the internet. It used to be really hard to find photos of Moroccan henna but now it’s everywhere, and so many amazing examples from artists all over Morocco and the world. There is truly nothing like Moroccan henna designs in the world of henna. Truly it should be a UNESCO-protected art form.
I love that Moroccan henna looks complex and hard to create, but that is actually quite easy once you learn a little bit about it. I also love how when you look at a Moroccan design with the paste on it almost looks like the most delicate embroidery or tightly woven kilim. It’s a breath of fresh air in a world filled with the same old designs we have seen a million times. My heart leaps in my chest at the sight of Moroccan henna.
Monique: I fell in love with the Moroccan style because it was so different from anything I had been exposed to. Sometimes people will call anything with sharp edges “Moroccan”- but there’s lush flowers, too. It’s a whole different language in lines with a formula like an alphabet. It pulls me in and I get lost in the labyrinth. It’s so elegant in its own way.
Jenpa: To me, the real magic of Moroccan henna is that it’s a unique visual language. Other styles of henna design from elsewhere in the world are often found in other art forms used locally — on fabrics, decorative objects, and elsewhere. But the designs used in Moroccan henna are specific to the medium of henna. Though there are many others that are somewhat similar, none are directly analogous. The designs and motifs used in Moroccan henna are a mystery, of unknown origin, but deeply connected to history, and still used today with relatively little change over many decades and potentially even centuries.
