MOHAMMED KACIMI: CONFLICT, EXILE AND FORCED DISPLACEMENT.

By Nii B. Andrews.

Mohammed Kacimi passed on just over 20 years ago: he was 60 years old. 

During his lifetime he was initially considered as an important Moroccan artist – then as an Arab artist; later he morphed into an African artist. 

At the time of his passing he was recognized as an eminent artist of the Global South. 

****CONTEUR AFRICAIN, 1994, Série Le temps des conteurs, Technique mixte sur toile, Signée en bas à droite, 280 x 258 cm. Courtesy CMG.

Today his status as a colossal artist for all humanity is incontrovertible.

Kacimi’s work from 1994 – 2003 has been the focus, for the last 14 days, of a monumental solo exhibition at the famous Comptoir des Mines Gallery located in Gueliz, Marrakech.

The artwork in the period under consideration was initiated after Kacimi made his break from what he considered the restricted narrative of the Casablanca School/Movement.

As a prelude, he had traveled extensively into West Africa; from 1993 Kacimi had unveiled for himself the ages long held knowledge that the Sahara is not a barrier at all but a sea with its own unique ecosystem that can, should and has always been traversed at will.

****SANS TITRE, CIRCA 1994, Technique mixte sur papier marouflé sur toile, Cachet de l’atelier en bas à gauche, 65 x 50 cm. Courtesy of CMG.*****

The relationships and insights that Kacimi gained in his journeys through Senegal, Benin and Mali enabled him to forge a new visual vocabulary   – a “new pictorial and poetic universe that mirrored his own nomadism”; one that broke new ground in Moroccan contemporary art. 

As far as he was concerned, “….the contemporary African artist stands as an archeologist of time’s layers……it is a state of being in direct engagement with unfolding events”.

He had come to know the desert as an initiatory space; a place of inner discovery that led him to full liberty actualized by his use of new colors, media and more emphatic figuration.

Three paintings from this period (among many others) serve to showcase, in a readily accessible manner, Kacimi’s aesthetic and narrative direction during this period: LE DESERT NOIR ET LE DESERT BLANC, 1995; LA CONNAISSANCE, L’ENVOL NOCTURNE, 2001and CONTEUR AFRICAIN, 1994.

The accompanying fragments of text from his archive that have been reproduced in the scholarly exhibition catalog and in the exhibition space,  serve to accentuate our appreciation of Kacimi’s visual concepts, his compositions and his grappling with the paradoxes of conflict, exile, displacement and authoritarianism.

           ”It is beyond midnights

That the words begin to swirl

Dissolving into one another

                                   To reveal

        This sensation of abyss

                 Or of absoluteness”

Kacimi was indeed a deep thinker who was able to articulate his complex thoughts with clarity and a distinctly poetic voice; freedom, human rights and dignity were at the bedrock of his world view.

“….I am an artist who is deeply concerned with the problems faced by men and women, the tragedies we endure – inequalities, exclusions, racism and humiliation. There is nothing worse than humiliation; it strips people of their dreams, their integrity, their creative sense. It creates psychological dependency. Liberating minds is essential,” he wrote in 2002.

****SANS TITRE, SEGOU, 2000, Technique mixte sur papier ,Signée, datée et située en bas à droite, 55 x 75 cm. Courtesy of CMG.*****

He was steadfast and relentless in his support for human rights stating, “We believe that a human rights activist is not bound by any specific territory. They are a nomad, deeply engaged with their environment, working tirelessly for equality, for the right to land, to education, to clean air and to dreams – a word that no longer seems to find its place in human discourse”.

It was through wandering, retreat and  self-denial that he was able to purify his vocation and technique and then proceed to fully assert his mastery.

And of course as he had declared: 

“I open myself to the sky

And I am pierced by the blues.

I lower my head towards the ground 

– It is ochre

Everything overtakes me

        The only possibility:

              to be on edge”

Is it a surprise then that the walls of the different exhibition rooms of the gallery have been painted in either ochre or blue?

 There is no white cube space here for this exhibit.

*****SANS TITRE 2001, Technique mixte sur sachet de cement, 86 x 58 cm, Signée, datée et située en bas à gauche. Courtesy of CMG.******

The exhibition “Mohammed Kacimi 1994–2003: A Universal Work,” is magnificent.

It is an artistic and cultural banquet lavishly prepared and laid out within the architectural splendor of a landmark, tastefully restored art deco building located in a fashionable suburb of a thriving ancient African city.

I must confess that, the setting, erudite texts and Kacimi’s powerful work rendered on mosquito nets, cement paper, discarded boards, salvaged cloths and canvas had me awestruck – almost moved me to tears.

“Africa has always been and continues to be a major catalyst for incredible ideas around art and aesthetics,” elucidates Koyo Kouoh, Zeitz MOCAA executive director and chief curator.

The myriad creative products by artists in Africa still continue to trace and explain important universal dialogues of the past and present and certainly also the future.

This solo exhibition is a seminal one and yet again confirms the solid role that the Comptoir des Mines Gallery under the visionary leadership of Hicham Dauodi, has been playing in bringing superlative art to the attention of the world.

****The immaculate art deco stairwell at the Comptoir des Mines Gallery******

Mohammed Kacimi: 1994-2003, une oeuvre universelle’, until January 15th

Note: Part of the exhibition will remain until February 20th, including during 1-54.

4 thoughts on “MOHAMMED KACIMI: CONFLICT, EXILE AND FORCED DISPLACEMENT.”

  1. Once again. Brilliant piece of writing. It makes one not despair that in Ghana, we have one who can write lucidly without quoting Focault and Baudrilliard.

  2. Excellent article as always – thanks for sharing! I am looking forward to seeing the show when I come to Marrakech. I love Kacimi’s work!

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