beyond al nafs
Beyond al Nafs is a painting collection, exploring the tension between individuality and collective belonging through an islamic and indigenous lens. The title refers to the nafs in Islam — the ego or self — which in Sufi thought must be transcended to move closer to the Divine.
These works reflect on how hyper-individualism, rooted in Eurocentric ideals, disrupts our capacity for empathy, solidarity, and shared responsibility. In contrast, I draw from Amazigh heritage, Indigenous philosophies, and Sufi teachings that emphasize interconnectedness and the communal journey of transformation. Through layered compositions in acrylics and oil pastels, I use organic forms and symbolic motifs to evoke both struggle and romanticisation, the vulnerability of facing one’s inner self and the strength found in community, memory, earth-human connection and spiritual trust.
community the tourag way
In an age of constant movement and displacement, community becomes difficult to sustain, while hyper-individualism further hinders social transformation by centering the ego over inherited collectivist values. Even though re-indigenization may feel unattainable in globalization, the Tuareg exemplify collective resilience through mobility, showing that community need not rely on physical togetherness but on shared resources, adaptability, and a culture that normalizes change.
When souls speak about their body being their home, in an attempt to protect themselves from the lack of sense of belonging, they think solitude is a source of unlimited reflection, while true growth only happens through the connection of minds. The feeling of being seen, of being able to rely and give. Mutual transactions, sometimes not so mutual, yet steady. The art of gifting in advance. Genuine generosity and caring.
135 x 105 cm | acrylic and pastel on canvas | on view at Artorium, Casablanca
barzakh
If interstellar was inspired by the Quran
The Barzakh is the veil in between the imaginable and unimaginable, a mirror between worlds, the place where the unseen and seen coexist. Pas present and future are one here. Ibn ʿArabi describes it as that which separates and connects at the same time, between life and death, wakefulness and dream, spirit and matter. The world of souls that some of us get to see only in our weakest state. It’s a place for the souls to rest before their forever destiny, or to travel to every night, as their creator wants it. Its the realm of dreams, visions, and spiritual encounters, where all moments exist in the eternal now. Where everything is perceived with pure consciousness, beyond the ego.
135 x 105 cm | acrylic and pastel on canvas | on view in Mordan Art Gallery
nafs al lawwamah
Nafs al-lawwāmah, the self-reproaching soul, represents the voice of conscience. In society it manifests as collective unrest. In this work, I draw on this stage of the nafs as a parallel to the state of society essential for transformation: to reproach, to unsettle, and to open the path toward collective healing.
Peace, or relief, comes with hardship.
acrylic and pastel on canvas | 105 x 100 cm | on view at artorium, Casablanca
the infinite being
No wave travels alone, no wave exists eternally in solitude, telling the story about how we belong to Him and to Him we will Return.
How sweet of earth to make room for the ocean to be. Only for its vastness and unpredictability to remind us humans of our fragility, the need of being humble.
acrylic and pastel on canvas | 155 x 100 cm | on view at mordan art gallery, Casablanca
barzakh II
While I think of the Barzakh, I am thinking of you.
Are you defending me in front of others? Are you cheering for me?
Are you proudly saying, this is my child?
Will you make room for me when I arrive?
Will we play again, be children together?
You is the soul I knew before,
You is the soul I remember.
You is the return and the way.
acrylic and pastel on canvas | 105 x 100 cm | on view at artorium gallery, Casablanca