Being a Moroccan Contemporary Artist Today: Between Casablanca and the International Scene

I am often asked what it concretely means to be a Moroccan contemporary artist today. There is no single answer — it is built day by day, between the studio and the fairs, between the legacy of a school and the demands of a language of one's own. For me, Younes Khourassani, this identity was forged in Casablanca, in contact with the School that bears the city's name, before unfolding across the scenes of Paris, Abu Dhabi, London and Cape Town.

Being a Moroccan contemporary artist does not mean confining oneself to a territory or an expected aesthetic. On the contrary, it means embracing a dual demand: remaining faithful to a matter, a light, a memory rooted here, while building a visual vocabulary that engages, without complex, with international contemporary art. The cellulosic painting I practise is not local folklore — it is a plastic research that finds its place as much in a Casablanca gallery as on a booth at 1-54 Paris.

This dual belonging has very concrete implications for the trajectory of a career. A typical year alternates long stretches in the studio — essential to a practice as slow as cellulosic painting — with periods of travel for fairs and exhibitions. This demanding rhythm also shapes the way each work is conceived: it must be able to carry, on its own, the whole of my universe in front of an audience that is sometimes discovering my work for the first time. I go into this more personal path in this portrait of a Moroccan visual artist.

The international scene for contemporary African art, whose dynamics I discuss more broadly in this article on the rise of contemporary African art, today offers Moroccan artists unprecedented visibility. But this openness does not exempt one from foundational work: it is the rigour of the studio, day after day, that makes a presence on these demanding stages possible.

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