Rajae Benchemsi

Farid Belkahia is one of the pioneers of contemporary Art in the Maghreb. Since the 1960s, his artistic research has focused on new ways of self-expression and examining his own identity and relationship with the other. Belkahia left the practice of traditional painting to work with copper, a new material for him, which he hammers, burns, oxidizes, and wounds in order to achieve emblematic traces, undulations, and flexible, rhythmic bas relief effects. Since 1974, Belkahia has also been working on parchment, which he darkens and softens to make it thinner, and almost translucent. This results in a kind of purifying process that is essential to his work, setting free an otherwise restrained creative energy. His use of leather is similar to parchment stretched on board, producing his unique totemic icons.