Naima Morelli

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Tag "morocco"
Mina Abouzahra, ‘Brick Wall tapestry (One and a half Women)’, 2026, Textile Arts, Wool/glass beads.Moroccan weaving and knotting.Made in Taznakht., Rademakers Gallery

While these tapestries were once diminished by academia and the avant-garde as mere “womanly craft,” contemporary artists from the Maghreb region in Northwest Africa are transforming the medium in ways that both honor and update longstanding traditions.

Many grew up around looms and recall their grandmothers’ hands on raw wool, their mothers’ crochet, or the cooperative workshops in their region. They attend to the labor, gestures, and knowledge that lived in the bodies of their women ancestors.

Finally, biennales, fairs, and museums around the world are starting to catch on.

Here are five of the most exciting contemporary artists inspired by Moroccan rugs and North African weaving.

Here is the link to the article

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A studio portrait shows a woman with long dark hair wearing a sleeveless denim top, sitting with her arms crossed and looking directly at the camera.

Loft Gallery director has spent nearly two decades building one of the country’s most important contemporary art spaces, while quietly assembling a collection guided entirely by instinct and love.

I have interviewed her for Observer.

Here is the link to the piece

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A visitor wearing a headscarf stands in a gallery space with bright blue walls, looking at two large abstract paintings framed in light wood, one composed of organic pastel shapes and the other of interlocking geometric forms.

The 2026 edition of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair Marrakech is smaller than in previous years. The number of galleries has been reduced, the fair occupies a tighter footprint and the broader media conversation has largely shifted further east.

The city itself, however, tells a different story. This year, the boutique fair operated in dialogue with exhibitions spread across the city, keeping visitors constantly engaged—if not by the energy of Marrakech itself, then by a program that extends far beyond the walls of La Mamounia, the state-of-the-art hotel where the fair takes place.

I reported from the fair for Observer.

Here is the link to the piece

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Ymane Fakhir : « Mon travail commence là où la parole est trop dure »

Born in Casablanca in 1969, Ymane Fakhir is a Franco-Moroccan artist based in Marseille. Trained at the Casablanca School of Fine Arts, the Aix-en-Provence School of Art and the Arles National School of Photography, she combines photography, video and installation to explore memory, rituals and intangible heritage.

I have interviewed the artist for the Hebdo du Quotidien de l’Art.

Here is the link to the interview (in French)

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1-54 Marrakech 2025. [Courtesy Mohamed Lakhdar]

Small but well-curated, the 1/54 art fair in Marrakech aims to be the gateway for African art, while fostering the local Moroccan art scene. I have reported on the event for Middle East Monitor.

Here is the link to the article

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Moroccan artist Bouchra Khalili

In her work, currently on show both in Athens and at the Venice Biennale, Moroccan Artist Bouchra Khalili highlights the power of storytelling for the disenfranchised subjects of history.

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Morocco's Btissam Sadini (L) competes against Serbia's Jovana Prekovic in the women's kumite -61kg elimination round of the karate competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 6, 2021.

In this story for Al-Monitor I spoke with four Moroccan female martial arts athletes about cultural stereotypes and how to inspire and empower future generations of female fighters.

Here is the link to the article

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My research on Morocco and its contemporary art scene continues on the webmagazine Middle East Monitor. This time I take a look at an extraordinary Biennale in the Moroccan city of Rabat.

I have interview Rabat Biennal’s curator, the French-Algerian philosopher, art historian and museum director Abdelkader Damani, who has set his mind to change the old ways to rewrite the rules of the art game.

Here is the link to the interview

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YasmineLaraqui
I have a growing interest for Marocco and the way contemporary art is developing in this country. This time I discussed the emerging art scene with curator, artist and gallerist Yasmine Laraqui founder of Dasthe Art Space and Agency in Casablanca for Middle East Monitor.

Here is the link to the interview

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MoroccoEuropeAfrica

The webmagazine Middle East Monitor has just published my article “While Europe looks at Moroccan art, Moroccan art looks at Africa.” I am developing a growing interest towards this country which has such a rich and diverse culture, and can’t wait to delve deeper. So stay tuned!

Here is the link to the article

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