Baghdad Benas

Born in Zeghanghane in 1951, Baghdad Benas trained at the School of Fine Arts in Casablanca and obtained a diploma in advertising in Rabat in 1970, before becoming a drawing teacher in 1972.

He held several solo exhibitions organized by various galleries in Rabat, including the Découverte Gallery (1973), the Bab Rouah Gallery (1974), and the Structure B.S. Gallery (1975). In 1980, Editions Stouky dedicated a first monograph to him, titled Baghdad Benas: dessins (Baghdad Benas: Drawings). The following year, the artist received a grant and moved to Canada, where his artistic production appears to have since ceased.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Benas developed a singular practice, oscillating between graphic precision and experimental approaches to form and matter.

Although his career in Morocco lasted only about fifteen years, the originality of his practice earned him a place in the 2021 exhibition Moroccan Trilogy 1950-2020. Curated by Abdellah Karroum at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, the exhibition brought together more than 200 works of art.