Algeria -

“Femininity is to be hypersensitive to nature and animals, high heels are not proof of feminism, nor lipstick evidence of softness,” words repeated by the Algerian theater artist Maryam Allaq, as she is about to take out her herd of rams to be released in the village that bears the memories of her adolescence.

On the outskirts of the city of Batna, east of the capital, Algiers, and with her sweet female voice, Allaq Mawil sang from the Algerian Al-Shawi song, and sections of the Moroccan heritage that she loves, adjusting her hat, trying to hide under her from the scorching heat of the city of Batna while she was lying on a plateau that enables her to see her rams.

She signals her flock to set off in "God's vast land", embracing a young sheep in a scene closer to the truth than a theater class.

Maryam Allaq at a press conference after one of her theatrical performances (Al Jazeera)

Beginning of the story

Allaq's story began when she moved from Morocco, her birthplace, to Algeria, at the age of 15. Her first contact with farm and animal life was in the outskirts of Batna, east of the Algerian capital.

She told Al Jazeera Net, "The first activity I did at the time was I cleaned the cow hut. It seemed like a difficult task for others, but I enjoyed it."

Allaq decided that period to stay in Algeria, even though the country was going through a security crisis (the black decade in the early 1990s). She practiced many combat sports, the most important of which was "Karate" until she got her black belt.

She narrates her passion for art, which began in the children's theater and moved with her in all her educational stages until she joined the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Algiers, to become a professional after that, her work ranged between writing texts and embodying characters.

The artist Allaq continued her participation in various national and international forums and won many awards, most notably the best theatrical script at the Ritual Festival in Jordan for her monodrama “The Departed”, which was shown in various countries of the world more than 100 times.

Breeding cows attracts the artist Allaq (Al Jazeera)

theater and animals

Allaq says, "The theater did not deter me from loving animals and nature. I come back from the show and get rid of cosmetics. I merge with nature by wearing spontaneous clothes. Animals do not need us to strive in our appearance in order to love or appreciate us."

She continues, "I go out, I go out with sheep, I eat dogs and cats, I milk cows, in short, I practice my passion for being with animals," and about sharing her photos with nature on her social media page, she says, "I wanted to break the stereotype."

Allaq believes that the woman was molded within a certain framework, which society wants to see in the way that the ancient stories portrayed her, with silky clothes and long straight hair and powder, as if those who do not practice these rituals are outside the feminist circle, she says.

Allaq does not strive to change the image of women in society. She says that it is only a matter of time, "it is a distance between us breaking the frame and liberating us from the look imposed on us by the other," and she wonders, "What would make me lose my femininity when I ride a donkey, this polite animal!"

Today, Allaq lives her life between Morocco and Algeria, practicing her humanity by taking advantage of her spare time from the theater between nature and animals, swimming in waterfalls, climbing mountains and contributing to the breeding of cows, releasing her herd and running with her dogs saying, "The real femininity and elegance is that we feel the other beings around us... It is enough that they do not It molds us as the children of our species do.”