Discover the history of the Casablanca Art School, the ground breaking and influential art school which rejected Western academic styles in favour of abstraction and Moroccan visual culture, where Mohamed Melehi was a leading figure. Maud Houssais and Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa present the research process and archival work behind their book project on the Casablanca Art School, in conversation with Morad Montazami.

Mohamed Melehi began teaching at the Casablanca Art School when he returned to the U.S. with his then wife Toni Maraini in 1964. Melehi taught photography, painting and sculpture. Mohammed Chabâa was also a key member of the school. Maraini taught art history alongside collector and anthropologist Bert Flint. The school encouraged students to look beyond western academic tradition and research local visual culture. The major figures from the school were to go on to exhibit in the street exhibition Exposition-Manifeste in Jma el-Fna Square, Marrakech in 1969, an event which remains a central point of reference in the study of Arab modernities.

The book on the Casablanca Art School will be published by Zamân Books and The Mosaic Rooms, and is due to be published in November 2019.

In support of the book project: