Malika Agueznay

Born in 1934 in Casablanca, Malika Agueznay studied social sciences in both Morocco and France before enrolling—encouraged by Naïma el-Khatib Boujibar—as a student at the Casablanca School of Fine Arts in 1966.

She was the first woman to study there, at a time when the institution was undergoing a profound transformation under the leadership of major figures such as Farid Belkahia, Mohamed Melehi, and Mohamed Chabâa. She then continued her training in New York under Mohammad Omar Khalil.

Influenced by this experimental artistic environment, she nevertheless developed a personal approach to abstraction, marked by a sensibility linked to femininity and the experience of the female body. As early as 1968, she created a relief composed of biomorphic motifs inspired by seaweed, a form that would become central to her work.

Evolving over the years between pure abstraction, calligraphic writing, plant-like imagery, and references to the female body, this organic form runs through a multidisciplinary practice blending painting, printmaking, sculpture, and woodworking.