The Changing Roles of Female Visual Artists in Morocco

Samir El Azhar, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Hassan 2 University, Casablanca, MoroccoFollow

Publication Date

11-15-2019

Abstract

Female artists are actively participating in the development and growth of visual arts in Morocco. This article seeks to highlight their important contribution in the Moroccan visual arts. It deals with the access of women to the field of visual art, delineates successive categories for understanding the types of work female artists have engaged in since the independence of the country in 1956, and the challenges that these artists have been facing. It focuses on the artistic experiences of specific artists, believed to be, representative of some historical era or artistic trend. Moreover, it tries to put these artists into a cultural and historical framework to contextualize their artistic production.

Author Bio(s)

Samir El Azhar is an Associate Professor in Hassan II University, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Ben M'sik, Casablanca, Morocco. He has authored numerous articles about Moroccan literature, art and culture. He reviewed “Visual Arts in the Kingdom of Morocco” published by Third Text (2016). He authored “Mohammed VI Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art,” published by Bonn University, Germany (2017). He also wrote “Narrative Techniques in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying” in Modern Narratives published by Moroccan Pen, Casablanca (2018). He curated the travelling exhibition: “Morocco and the United States in World War II” (2017). He presently occupies the post of Secretary General of the Moroccan Association for Cultural Policies.