Yamou was born in 1959 in Casablanca.
After studying biology at the University of Toulouse and later at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he obtained a postgraduate degree (DEA) focused on contemporary art in Morocco, he set up his studio in Montreuil in the late 1980s and began his artistic career.
The vegetal world occupies a central place in his work, both in the materials he uses and in the themes he explores. This interest is rooted in southern Morocco, an arid region where the colour green symbolises life. Drawing from this environment, Yamou has developed a personal pictorial language that maintains a constant tension between figuration and abstraction.
For forty years, he has explored the forms and systems of living organisms, developing a coherent and immediately recognisable body of work.
His works are held in several public and private collections, including the Neuberger Museum of Art (United States), the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (Morocco), the Kamel Lazaar Foundation (Tunisia), the Nelson Mandela Foundation (South Africa), the World Bank (United States), the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (France), the FRAC Corse (France), the Written Art Foundation (Germany), Bank Al-Maghrib (Morocco) and Saham Bank (Morocco).
The artist lives and works between Paris and Tahannaout.