Farid Belkahia was born in 1934 in Marrakech.
He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1955 to 1959, before training in stage design at the Prague Theatre Institute between 1959 and 1962. Between 1965 and 1966, he continued his studies at the Brera Academy in Milan.
Upon returning to Morocco, Farid Belkahia directed the École des Beaux-Arts in Casablanca from 1962 to 1974 and played a major role in the renewal of artistic practices in Morocco alongside Mohamed Melehi and Mohamed Chabâa.
After an initial expressionist period, he developed a body of work marked by organic abstraction and the exploration of unconventional materials. Following an important period working with copper between 1962 and 1974, he created works on animal skin dyed with natural pigments such as henna and pomegranate bark.
Through this research, Farid Belkahia revisited forms, craftsmanship and symbols drawn from Moroccan traditions within a distinctly contemporary approach. “All renewal, all modernity passes through tradition,” the artist stated.
His works are held in several public and private collections, including the Institut du monde arabe (France), the Centre Pompidou – Musée national d’art moderne (France), the Fonds national d’art contemporain (France), the Mathaf – Arab Museum of Modern Art (Qatar) and the Fondation ONA (Morocco).
Farid Belkahia passed away in 2014 in Marrakech.