Mohamed Melehi (1936-2020) is regarded as a major figure for postcolonial Moroccan art and within the history of modernism in the Global South. A multi-faceted artist, painter, photographer, muralist, graphic and urban designer, art teacher, and cultural activist, he taught at the Casablanca Art School during its most radical period, between 1964 and 1969.
In Melehi’s art we can sense the spirit of aesthetic revolution and the exaltation of post-Independence Morocco, through his developments in the 1960s: from experiments with abstraction in Rome and New York to the full maturation of the wave, his signature motif, in the 1970s (he took part in the Hard Edge and Geometric Painting exhibition of the MoMA, New York, in 1963).
As shown in the work Composition (1970), his colorful and pattern-making process resonates with his outdoor murals, especially those made for the Cultural Mous sem of Asilah Festival (northern Morocco) from 1978 on – where Melehi co-organized a landmark tricontinental artistic network and event, a festival which continues every summer to this day.
Melehi’s art resists the East/West divide that developed during the Cold War period. His wavy frescoes take us on a cosmopolitan journey, joining together the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. His dialogue with the West must be balanced with a passion for popular Amazigh jewelry and rugs (which can be traced all throughout the Sahara desert, either in Berber or Touareg traditions). It is a profound relationship with local art and craft, where these combinations of patterns (between straight and wavy lines, abstract and figurative forms, femininity and masculinity symbols) can be found, which is documented by Melehi’s photographic works.
As a graphic designer and photographer, Melehi helped shape the visual culture of political struggles throughout the Maghreb and Pan-Arab artistic networks. His graphic design and publishing work for the Casablanca group and avant-garde journals such as Souffles (1966-1969) and Integral (1971-1978) provide the best examples.