Avengers eating couscous, star wars’ stormtroopers dancing Ahouach, and Spiderman playing Sintir, Ilustradil is an alternate universe where pop culture icons meet Moroccan culture, as eastern and western culture fuse, cinema, music, and comics combine to give rise to diverse, multicultural scenes with a twist of humor.
“I want to show that there is no predominant culture, that every culture is rich and deserves to be known. We have to bring out our identity because it is as rich as the others,” said Adil Meslouhi, the creator of Illustradil, in his statement to Hespress EN.
Amid the boredom of quarantine, university professor Adil Meslouhi started crafting his bizarre world. Based on his drawing talent and his love of comics, art, and culture, Meslouhi launched his first and favorite illustration “Gadda Aliha,” (capable), a recreation of the famous poster ”we can do it” with a Moroccan twist.
On his Instagram feed, the Moroccan illustrator continued displaying his design talents and sense of humor to his 18,000 followers, dressing superheroes in Moroccan costumes, making Moroccan artists characters in western shows, reinventing famous pictures, and sprinkling iconic artworks with Moroccan jokes that never failed to light up his followers’ mood.
His original concept drove numerous national and international brands to use his multicultural characters, either to add an authentic touch to their products or to promote a certain cause.
“I collaborated with a clothing brand to revisit a classic Japanese manga: Akira. I also worked on an illustration to fight against violence to women for the Libra Worldwide brand and many other projects with brands,” said Meslouhi.
Today, Meslouhi is still stealing time from his busy schedule to scratch on his digital tablet future characters for the Illustradil world, dreaming one day of publishing his own comic book with original Moroccan superheroes, where his famous character Marrakech-ma, sporting a traditional silham, vintage sunglasses, and Moroccan tarbouch (hat) may take a part.
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