Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
Street photographer Yassine Alaoui, who goes by the nickname Yoriyas, seeks out moments that capture the reality of daily life in a city home to more than 3.5 million people. "I am telling the story of Casablanca through my journey," he tells CNN, adding that his point of view is much different than "all the cliché."
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
Naming the photo collection "Casablanca Not the Movie" was not only a natural choice for Yoriyas, but it was also "smart," he says, because the catchy title piques people's interest.
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
Yoriyas strives to provide an authentic window into Moroccan culture, while painting a different picture than the one romanticized in Hollywood folklore. "Yet sometimes I encounter scenes that could be out of a movie," he says, like this moment he snapped on Mohammed V Boulevard, one of the oldest arteries through Casablanca.
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
Yoriyas didn't set out to become a photographer, but the seed was planted during his days as a breakdancer. "I used it as a GPS tool," he says, referring to the small camera he would bring on his travels to competitions around the world -- not to take pictures of famous landmarks or historical sites, but to remember how to get from the hotel to the event, and back.
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
When an injury ended his breakdancing career in 2013, he picked up his camera and began capturing his hometown. Here, as a temporary sheep market was being dismantled, the local children transform the metal structures of the tents into a playground.
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
His unique approach of taking pictures from a low angle was also influenced by breakdancing, but it took an observation from a friend to realize that was the case. "I thought back to when I was dancing -- I was always having my head on the floor, having my perspective from the floor to the people," Yoriyas explains. It's a style he's come to refer to as "the rat perspective."
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
"In the beginning I didn't do portraits. I just photographed kind of interesting composition. It's like choreography in the streets without staging the scene," he tells CNN.
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
The building of a new theater in Casablanca provides an interesting composition. "For me, it shows how art is in construction, too," Yoriyas explains.
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
Although much of his work is focused on contemporary, urban Casablanca, Yoriyas says he spends hours doing research, visiting antique shops and sifting through its history because he feels a duty to protect "the visual identity of Morocco."
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
Yoriyas is not opposed to other photographers coming to take pictures of Africa, but he believes it's healthy to have a balance between the outsider's and insider's points of view. It's important to provide "the true representations of the countries," he says.
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
"Capturing scenes in Casablanca (is) also capturing my memories in the city," Yoriyas explains. "I remember being a kid and going to the roof of my family's building and looking out onto the seaside and onto the horizon. For me, Casablanca was the end of the world."
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
"My self-portrait!" This gallery is just a selection from the entire collection, which Yoriyas started in 2014 and has since gained him international recognition. In January 2020, he was offered the opportunity to curate the first exhibit at the newly opened National Photography Museum in the capital of Rabat, a space he considers critical to the future of his country: "I always say you cannot have social and economic development without having visual development."
Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui
Motivated by his North African heritage, influenced by dance and inspired by his city, Yoriyas' keen eye for the unexpected moment has since earned him multiple awards and is helping a new generation redefine what it means to be Moroccan.
CNN  — 

Every time he traveled somewhere new in the world, people would ask Yassine Alaoui where he’s from: “I say Casablanca, (Morocco) and they immediately connect Casablanca with the movie.”

It’s those conversations with strangers that inspired his first photography collection, aptly named “Casablanca Not the Movie” – which aims to show the real Casablanca, as opposed to the one represented in films like the 1942 Hollywood classic.

CNN
Moroccan street photographer Yassine "Yoriyas" Alaoui

But photography was not his first love. The former professional breakdancer – who goes by the nickname Yoriyas – tells CNN that as a teenager he would spend day and night perfecting his moves in the entrance to a supermarket complex in Casablanca’s Sidi Othmane neighborhood. It was there that his dance crew Lhiba Kingzoo was founded in 2005, and where they developed the routines that would later earn them international recognition.

After an injury cut his dance career short, he grabbed a camera and took to the place he knew best – the streets of “Casa,” as locals affectionately refer to the city.

“Casablanca Not the Movie” was born and has since been showcased around the world. The unique collection of images lifts the veil on his city, exposing a vibrant and eclectic place well beyond the guidebooks and film lore.

Scroll through the gallery at the top of this page to see photographs from the series, a love letter to the place Yoriyas calls home.

For more stories like this one, visit Inside Africa