‘ROOTS AND HORIZONS: MOROCCAN WOMEN IN ART’ invites you to discover contemporary expressions of Moroccan art and culture

Opening: 9 Nov. 4 pm

Malika Agueznay, Najia Mehadji, Ghizlane Agzenaï, Madiha Sebbani and Rahma Lhoussig are the five artists showing their work in “Roots and Horizons: Moroccan Women in Art”, inviting us todiscover the contemporary art of Morocco through silkscreens, engravingsand photographs inspired by the heritage and cultural legacy of theircountry of origin.

Organized within the scope of cultural cooperation between the CPS - Centro Português de Serigrafia (Portuguese Printmaking Centre) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Portugal, this exhibition will be on display from the 9^th to the 21^st of November, at the CPS Gallery at the Belém Cultural Center.

Madiha Sebbani, "Paradoxe", Photography, 70x50 cm, CPS Edition 2024

Curated by Alexandra Silvano, the project “Roots and Horizons: Moroccan Women in Art” was born with the aim of giving centre stage to a discreet but fascinating group of Moroccan women artists who are leaving an indelible mark on the international art scene.

To this end, and at the invitation of the CPS, each artist developed their own project, inspired by their personal experiences, using the techniques available in the CPS studio, which resulted in an unusual set of admirable editions of Original Graphic Work. These editions symbolise the living testimony of their Roots and Horizons, of Moroccan Art in the Feminine.

Najia Mehadji, "Volute", Screen Print, 100x70 cm, CPS Edition 2024

This group of artists, despite their distinct paths and generations, demonstrates an interest in a deep heritage and cultural legacy from the ancestral traditions of their ancestors. This bond is reflected in the works of Malika Agueznay, Najia Mehadji, and Ghizlane Agzenaï, who combine Islamic calligraphy with floral, vegetal, and geometric motifs, or Madiha Sebbani, Rahma Lhoussig, and also here Najia Mehadji, who choose to address themes reflecting social issues such as globalization, citizenship, and Arab female identity.

Without renouncing its vast secular heritage of popular art, Moroccan culture has resurfaced in recent decades through artists who reinvent this legacy, creating innovative projects free of restrictions. This exhibition is further proof of that!

Malika Agueznay, "L’Algue Amour", Engraving 70x50 cm, CPS Edition 2024

The CPS will also be exhibiting these works at FIG Bilbao - International Fair of Printmaking and Art on Paper, which takes place from 28 November to 1 December. This year, Morocco is the guest country at the event.

Between January and March 2025, this exhibition will be hosted by the National Fine Arts Society, in Lisbon.

About the artists:

Malika Agueznay

She is considered a pioneer in Moroccan abstract art, since in the 60’s she was part of the modernist movement of the Casablanca group at the Casablanca School of Fine Arts. She is a painter, sculptor and was one of the first women artists to make engravings in Morocco. Her art reveals the creation of shapes and plastic elements that, distributed on the support, are reminiscent of Moroccan carpets, embroidery, henna or tattoos. They are volumes, lines and textures juxtaposed on various materials, very close to ancient Muslim art. Malika combines arabesque and Arabic script, creating a very personal language with a symbolic dimension, inspired by the seaweed motif that appears in various ancient cults of Mother Earth and Life Born of the Primordial Waters.

Najia Mehadji

A French-Moroccan artist who lives and works between Paris and Essaouira, Morocco. Her work stands out for its ability to synthesise and fuse Western and Eastern cultures. As well as painting and drawing, the artist has explored other forms of expression from an early age, such as performance and music, creating universal symbolic forms and approaching abstraction. She has developed work centred on gesture, oriental calligraphy and dance, creating her own language of continuous and dynamic lines, which reflects a spiritual dimension and the deep connection between meditation and art. Mehadji has also used digital art and serigraphy, in close-up, to create works that denounce the barbarity of war, social and political issues, the struggle of women and the defence of human rights.

Ghizlane Agzenaï

She has seen her work gain notoriety in the public space, playing an important role in the regeneration and valorisation of the built heritage of cities. Her work is distinguished by the relationship between shapes and lines with a palette of psychedelic and vibrant colours combined in geometric patterns. In a discreet but profound way, the artist conveys a social and spiritual message through her creations, which she defines as Totems. For Agzenaï, these totems, full of paradoxical energy, convey dynamism and appeasement. They are material incarnations of benevolent spirits that spread waves of joy, vitality and security, creating a contagious optimism.

Madiha Sebbani

Sebbani is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works between the UK and Saudi Arabia, where she develops a curatorial project at the MISK Art Institute and is the founding director of the Contemporary Lab Company. Her visual work uses photography and performance as the basis for her creation and explores the dynamics of power and authority in various cultures and societies. In her self-portraits, she wears various traditional costumes, investigates and questions patriarchal and matriarchal influences in Arab society, as well as the complexity of integrating women into traditional cultural practices.

Rahma Lhoussig

A graduate of the National Institute of Fine Arts in Tetouan, she explores the relationship between the body, memory and meaning, which function as catalysing anchors in everyday life. Lhoussig seeks to dive into the realm of dreams, and discover hidden and unnoticed parts of memory, thought and emotions. The intentionally unfinished works reflect the complexity of the unconscious, the fragmentation of memory, with figures at rest, masked or living in a separate space.

‘ROOTS AND HORIZONS: MOROCCAN WOMEN IN ART’

Exhibition from 9 to 21 November 2024

CPS Gallery at the Belém Cultural Centre

Praça do Império, Lisbon - Portugal

Opening hours: Every day from 10am to 7pm

Institutional Partners: