Konoze   35"x 23.5"         
        

 

Soufiane Ait Ben Hmad is a self-taught painter from the Southern Moroccan city of Taroudant.
In the past, he has experimented with various different styles, themes, and mediums. However, as he has matured as a painter he has developed his own style within the genre of semi-figuration symbolique.
His paintings are a balance between folklore from Taroudant, his childhood memories and current dreams.
He uses the mixture and interaction of colors to depict the balance and connection he seeks between his inner world and that of the popular myth.
His paintings are filled with spiritual symbolism. He paints on canvas using mostly water-based paint.

Click on any of the images for a larger view

 

Kahf-Lomniyat   35" x 23.5"
What does your family think of your work?

 

At first, his family was angry at his 'childish' hobby.  The family needed every dirham (Moroccan currency) they could get and were annoyed that any money Soufiane made through his work as a carpenter and soccer player would be used to buy painting material.   The exception was his maternal grandfather that allowed him to paint in the guest salon even though he got paint everywhere.  Despite their protests, Soufiane continued to pursue his love for painting and continued to invest his money and time into creating new paintings.   After about 5 years Soufiane's name became known in Taroudant and he held a successful exhibition.  At the exhibition the then governor of the province of Taroudant came and praised Soufiane's work and asked him to paint some murals inside the building where the provincial offices are.   He also went home with one of Soufiane's paintings.   As his family heard Soufiane's name more and more from other locals they could not deny that his 'hobby' was actually a gift.   They are now amongst his biggest fans.

What thoughts or feelings do you want to get across to the viewer in your work?

 

First, it is important to Soufiane that the viewer can understand his work simply from viewing the painting and reading the title.   He would like the viewer to develop their own thought and feeling of the painting without him having to describe his work.  His work includes many questions because he hopes the viewers will be energized/awoken and begin to ask themselves similar questions.

 

'Konoze' means treasures in English.  This particular painting was painted in the spring of 2004.   The painter is not sure of the exact origin of this particular myth, but it is a very old tale that still resounds in the Moroccan world today.   The story is as follows, in old times there were mass killings happening in Morocco between armies of rival cities and between the armies of Morocco and outsiders.   

During this time, when the Berber people knew that the army was coming they would hide their gold and money.
They would then write on a scroll where the map to the treasure is and hide the scroll in a place where their family members outside their town or village knew to look for it.  
Most often the map was written in Berber symbols on a door.  Hence, in the painting, the orange background is the door and the blue/white Berber symbols are the map.   Inevitably, some treasures were never retrieved.  
In more modern times, as people became aware of the history of the treasures, they began to revitalize the search for them.    The people who came upon the scrolls or maps would take them to Muslim fortunetellers because it is believed that old treasures are bound by spells or guarded by genies.
 

Man-Akun 35"x 23.5"

Mothers and families fear for their sons.  The painter's own mother feared for his younger brother because he was born with a prominent widow's peak.   The white stork/bird in the painting represents the people and their apathy in doing anything about addressing this issue.

The painting depicts this tale and the painter's feelings about this horrible reality.   The painter painted the painting as if he were one of the kidnapped babies and has tried to convey the cries for help using bold colors. Some of the questions posed in the painting include:   how Muslims can do this when it is against the principles of Islam, what do the babies do to deserve this, how people can act like animals when possessed by greed, how people can watch all this happen and not do anything, and how people devalue the human soul by killing babies for material wealth when Allah has placed such great value on it.

Finally, what does the future
hold for you as an artist?

 

He wishes to travel outside of Morocco and around the world to exhibit is art.   More importantly however, traveling would allow him to learn about the people of the world and about art around the world.  He wants to learn new techniques and improve his own style.   Currently, the painter talks about the histories of Taroudant and Morocco in his paintings and the issues the people face.   He hopes in the future he will have a broader understanding of humankind and be able to paint the stories and issues of humans across the globe, not only Moroccans.   He aspires to depict notions of peace between all people.   As an artist, he would like his name to be known outside of Taroudant.

Soufiane can be contacted by email.. soufiane.hmad@gmail.com He is working on his website so look out for our update.