Dali Belkadhi's 'Marabouts' Facing the Sea

After thirteen years of withdrawal and creative silence, Mohamed Ali Belkadhi signed his grand return on Saturday, October 17, 2026, with the opening of his exhibition 'Marabouts: A Walk Between Identity and Modernity' at En face c'est la mer (Espace Verand'Art, 9 rue Sotusas, Salammbô). A plastic meditation of great finesse, where traditional sacredness becomes the setting for our profane modernities. ⏱️ 3 min read In the Silence of the Dome Facing the Sea... Manel Albouchi You must first cross the threshold and let your gaze acclimate to the white. In the stripped space of Verand'Art, there is a near-sacred stillness. At the back, it is the inauguration of a niche: the atelier-galerie En face c'est la mer, an altar devoid of any dogma. It is within this pure lime setting that Mohamed Ali Belkadhi's framed works, known as Dali, are aligned. 'Marabouts: A Walk Between Identity and Modernity' 'Plastic Artist of the Imaginary' After thirteen years of absence—this long interval where deep visions mature—this 'Plastic Artist of the Imaginary,' National Photography Prize winner, does not return to impose a doctrine, but to open passages. His series 'Marabouts' deploys a row of cut-out windows with extreme delicacy. The Dome and the Crescent Each passe-partout is pierced with a dome arch, crowned with a crescent moon. The silhouette immediately evokes the Koubba, this Maghreb sanctuary with a square base surmounted by a dome. But up close, the line refuses any fixity: from frame to frame, the arch softens, the dome subtly rounds, reflecting the living gesture of the hand carving the void. Above, the moon returns faithfully, as if to remind us of the great law of metamorphosis: every encounter is born from an eclipse, and presence needs absence to come into being.