Farid Belkahia

One of post-colonial Morocco's most distinguished modern artists, as a deeply contemplative artist who worked primarily in the mediums of painting, metalwork and leather, which he treated using traditional techniques and natural dyes, such as henna. He was a key player in incorporating vibrant symbols from Moroccan heritage into his work. In the 1960s, he began working with copper to create bas-reliefs and the symbols in his work were inspired by tattoos and letter shapes from Morocco's indigenous Amazigh culture and architecture. In Aube (Dawn), semi-abstract, ambiguous forms resembling body parts in organic, earthy tones fill the composition and a prominent, rainbow-coloured circle emerges in the background, resembling the rising sun at dawn. In the mid-1970s, he began to paint with organic pigments on leather using traditional methods and materials, reworked with a contemporary aesthetic. Belkahia exhibited prominently in Morocco, including at the Galerie gab Rouah and Galerie ('Atelier in Rabat, as well as the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.