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Morocco’s contemporary art scene is thriving, with artists pushing boundaries across a range of media, from painting and sculpture to installation and digital art. These ten Moroccan artists are making waves both locally and internationally, and their works are worth exploring before the year ends.
Leila Alaoui
Leila Alaoui (July 10, 1982 – January 18, 2016) was a French Moroccan photographer and video artist known for her poignant explorations of cultural identity, migration, and displacement. Combining art with social activism, she worked on projects for NGOs and humanitarian organizations, including portraits of refugees and video installations like *Crossings*, which depicted the journeys of Moroccans to Europe. Her work appeared in *The New York Times*, *Vogue*, and global exhibitions, with pieces held by Qatar Museums.
Alaoui often set up portable studios in public spaces to capture intimate portraits, inspired by Robert Frank's *The Americans*. In 2015, she documented Syrians in refugee settlements for *Everyday Heroes of Syria*. Tragically, she died in a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso in 2016.
Her legacy is honored through the Leila Alaoui Foundation, established to preserve her work, uphold her values, and support artists promoting human dignity. Tributes include dedications at the Marrakech Biennale and the Photography Biennale of the Contemporary Arab World.
Zakaria Rahmani
Zakaria Ramhani (b. 1983, Tangiers) is a Moroccan visual artist based in Montreal, renowned for his large-scale paintings that incorporate Arabic calligraphy as a central artistic element. His work explores the tension between Islamic aniconism and portraiture, inspired by his upbringing in a Muslim society and the influence of his father, a landscape painter who grappled with religious restrictions on depicting the human figure.
In 2006, Ramhani became the youngest Moroccan to receive a residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. Since then, he has exhibited internationally, including at the Barbican Centre in London, Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Dakar Biennale, and the British Museum at DIFC Dubai. His works are part of prestigious collections such as the Barjeel Foundation and the Royal Family of Morocco. In 2013, Julie Meneret Contemporary Art introduced his work to the U.S. with the exhibition *May Allah Forgive Me, Vol. 1 and 2*.
Lalla Essaydi
Lalla A. Essaydi is a Moroccan-born artist currently based in the United States. She earned her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University in 2003 and is represented by Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston and Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York City. Her work has been widely exhibited across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and is held in esteemed collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Williams College Museum of Art, and the Fries Museum in the Netherlands.
Essaydi's art blends Islamic calligraphy with depictions of the female form, offering a nuanced exploration of Arab female identity shaped by her personal experiences. Her work often revisits her Moroccan girlhood, navigating the space between her past and present realities. By appropriating Orientalist imagery from Western art traditions, she challenges and reinterprets these historical narratives. Working across various media—including painting, photography, video, and installation—Essaydi crafts a distinctive visual language that engages viewers in critical dialogues about gender, culture, and representation.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani (b. 1988, Rabat, Morocco) is a New York-based artist known for her playful videos and installations blending animation, documentary, and sci-fi. She earned her MFA in Animation from École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and her BFA from The Cooper Union. Her work explores themes like migration, identity, and cultural traditions, often drawing on her lived experiences.
Notable projects include *Mission Teens* (2019), a faux reality show set at her French school in Morocco, examining colonial influence and soft power, and *Siham & Hafida* (2017), a multi-screen installation exploring intergenerational dynamics among Moroccan *chikha* performers. Bennani’s innovative storytelling and multimedia approach create engaging, humorous works that bridge cultural specifics with universal themes.
Latifa Echakhch
Latifa Echakhch (b. 1974, El Khnansa, Morocco) is a contemporary visual artist renowned for her socio-political and culturally reflective sculptures, paintings, and installations. By decontextualizing symbolic objects, Echakhch invites viewers to question preconceived associations and construct narratives from the traces left behind, a process she likens to detective work. Her art also critiques the fragility of modernism, as seen in works like *Untitled (Gunpowder)*, where she used gunpowder tea to create a black border referencing both war and Morocco's tea culture.
Echakhch studied at the École supérieure d'Art de Grenoble, the National School of Arts Cergy-Pontoise, and the Lyon National School of Fine Arts. Since starting her career in 2002, she has exhibited at prestigious institutions like Tate Modern, the Hammer Museum, and MACBA, and participated in major biennials, including Venice, Sharjah, and Istanbul. Among her accolades are the Marcel Duchamp Prize (2013) and the Zurich Art Prize (2015). Currently based in Martigny, Switzerland, she continues to challenge cultural narratives through her thought-provoking works.
Hicham Matini
Hicham Matini (b. 1987, Tahla, Morocco) is a visual artist whose work focuses on the cultural hegemony of images and the impact they have on public discourse, particularly in the context of geopolitics. He explores how culture is often transmitted as distraction, with a critical eye on the "virality" of images and their perceived truthfulness. Matini aims to provide deeper interpretations of contemporary issues through his art.
He holds a degree from the National Institute of Fine Arts in Tetouan (2014) and has exhibited at notable venues such as the 5th Marrakech Biennale, MONA in Detroit, the Festival of Arts and Music in Tulum, and CRUCE contemporary art center in Madrid. His work, which spans various media, addresses themes like borders, urban violence, and generational conflicts, using popular symbols to explore the tension between tradition and modernity.
Amine EL GOTAIBI
Amine El Gotaibi, a 2008 graduate of the National Institute of Fine Arts in Tetouan, is a prominent figure in Moroccan contemporary art. Known for his large-scale, multidisciplinary projects, he blends traditional mediums like drawing, video, and painting with mechanical engineering and travel. His works often engage with space and time, reflecting on political, social, and geographical themes.
In 2020, while a resident at the Nirox Foundation in South Africa, El Gotaibi created *Sun(W)hole_piece of cradle 1*, a 15.3-meter long adobe wall with a hole symbolizing resistance to immobility. In 2019, his installation *Ba moyi ya afrika (The Suns of Africa)*, displayed at the Young Congo Biennial, featured projectors representing the sun illuminating Africa, extending his exploration of territorial concepts initiated in 2016 with *Attorab Al Watani*, a participatory work showcased at COP22 in Marrakech.
El Gotaibi's immersive works, like *La prédation ne croit pas à la mort!* (2012), question hegemonic powers. His project *Arena of Submission* (2014), born from the Arab Spring, was funded by the Arab Fund for Arts and Cultures and exhibited by the Institut du Monde Arabe. His exhibitions, such as *Perspective de brebis* (2018) and *Perspective de séduction* (2019), continue to explore themes of submission and territoriality, blending personal reflection with universal socio-political commentary.
Mo Baala
Mo Baala, a multidisciplinary artist from Taroudant, Morocco, draws inspiration from traditional Moroccan and African crafts, as well as philosophy, history, and literature. His artistic journey began in the vibrant markets of Taroudant, where he explored his creativity alongside online research. Baala’s diverse influences are reflected in his fluid practice across mediums. Trained in leatherwork from a young age, he later expanded into paper drawings, collages, textiles, and painting. His work now includes site-specific installations, performance, and video art. Since debuting at the 2016 Marrakech Biennale, Baala has gained international recognition, with his work featured in both solo and group exhibitions worldwide. He currently lives and works in Morocco.
Yacout Kabbaj
Yacout Kabbaj, born in 1983 in Casablanca, is a contemporary visual artist known for her innovative use of materials and her exploration of figurative anti-discourse. She emerged on the Moroccan art scene in 2008 with a monumental 9x3 meter piece at the "From Urban Geography to Places of Silence" exhibition. In 2009, she became a resident artist at the Cité des Arts in Paris, where she connected with international artists and participated in various exhibitions, including the Biennale of Young Creators in Skopje.
Her work delves into visual automatism and contemporary aesthetic questions, such as the disturbances caused by digital hardware and software. Yacout defines her art as "a precious means of freezing the aesthetic moment of this beginning of the century." She explores the concept of non-form through spontaneous gestures, vivid color explosions, and organic dimensions like drips, reliefs, and transparencies. Her technique, developed over three years of experimentation, utilizes industrial materials to create dynamic, evolving works. Yacout currently lives and works in Casablanca.
Yto Barrada
Yto Barrada (b. 1971, Paris) is a Moroccan-French artist who studied history and political science at the Sorbonne and photography in New York. Her work, which spans photography, film, sculpture, prints, and installations, often explores the unique context of her hometown, Tangier. Barrada has exhibited at major institutions like Tate Modern, MoMA, Centre Pompidou, and the Venice Biennale.
Named Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year in 2011, her exhibit *RIFFS* toured internationally. Barrada is also the founding director of the Cinémathèque de Tanger and has received notable awards, including the Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography and the 2015 Abraaj Prize. She is represented by Pace Gallery, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, and Galerie Polaris.
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