Malika Agueznay

Malika Agueznay – Untitled, 1986

Born in Casablanca in 1934, Malika Agueznay studied social work between Morocco and France before enrolling—encouraged by Naïma el-Khatib Boujibar—as a student at the École des beaux-arts in Casablanca in 1966.

She was the first woman to study there, at a time when the institution was undergoing a profound transformation driven by major figures such as Farid Belkahia, Mohamed Melehi, and Mohamed Chabâa. She later pursued 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 sensitivity tied to femininity and the experience of the female body. As early as 1968, she created a relief composed of biomorphic motifs inspired by marine algae, a shape that would become central to her work.

Explored over the years through pure abstraction, calligraphic writing, plant evocations, or references to the female body, this organic figure runs through a multidisciplinary practice combining painting, engraving, sculpture, and woodwork.