“Poetry and painting”, this is the title of the exhibition by the painter and writer Loubaba Laalej at the Rivages space of the Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans living abroad, scheduled from November 14 to December 14 2024.
She transgresses painting through poetry. It provokes a dialogue on the surface of the canvas where poetry takes shape through color. This is the Moroccan-French painter and writer Loubaba Laalej. This unveils its new exhibition “Poetry and painting” at the Rivages space, part of the Hassan II Foundation in Rabat. Through his exhibition, Loubaba Laalej combines two arts: painting and poetry. “I opted for this fusion because the poetic dictate refers to the pictorial act and vice versa. Wonder of reunion, the verb mingles with the flesh of the form like the two arms of a single body. A no-brainer. The wedding party has returned. The link is recreated, the language unravels in colors. The poet and the painter visit their rich and intense interiority. They constantly dialogue with their self in a passion that forgets space and time.
This energy feeds on itself,” she says. Indeed, painting represents for Loubaba “the universe of visionaries”. She considers it a “beauty dedicated to sight and touch”. “She is the possible of my impossible. Its colors are dazzling, pure and transparent. They captivate my senses and open me to the imagination. Its light is nourishing, its atmosphere is tender and surprising. It is the mirror of my love for life. My painting joins in creating the beauty that poetry will put into action. I discover what is hidden, what is seen. I describe this loving couple in shapes and colors.
This is my message,” she explains. When it comes to poetry, she makes her body “dance,” as she says. “My mind escapes into joy. Poetry is an elixir that rejuvenates me and transports me to infinity. A wonder of the moment and an eternal present. Poetry speaks to painting which has no words. She describes what she captured from this imagination. She reads the colors of the canvas with an intense, free and varied emotion,” she says. It must be said that Loubaba Laalej is passionate about poets and artists who charm and transport with their words and their works. Several have left their mark on it, namely Enheduanna, Sapho Apollinaire, Prévert, Chagall, Garcia Lorca, Paul Eluard, André Breton, René Magritte, René Char, Max Ernest, Dali, Cézanne, Claude Monet, Hokusai, Shitao, Mahmoud Darwish, Nizar Kabbani and others. Furthermore, Loubaba’s migratory experience has nourished his creative impulse which aims to go off the beaten track. “Who says emigration says travel.
The journey and its mysteries,” she says. And to indicate: “The trip reinforces the experience. I was educated in my culture with a great openness to the world. My parents advocated tolerance and thoughtful listening. Our reality was positive and not fantasized. Paris is a splendid city and a hub. A living together. Emigration shaped part of my personality. My quest for meaning and my own human evolution. In this, she influenced my artistic life. Emigrant artists abound throughout the world. Another knowledge enriched them. They have conquered a place in the sun.
About the artist
Course A native of Fez, Loubaba Laalej is a painter and writer living in Paris since 1956. She has degrees in journalism, sociology and international studies. Coming from a family of artists, Loubaba has been passionate about writing and painting since a young age. She has to her credit several exhibitions in France, Italy, Vietnam, Spain… In 2019, she obtained an honorary doctorate awarded by the Fine Arts Forum International as recognition. She is a member of the Permanent Bureau of the League of African Women Writers and the Alliance of Arab Creators. Among his poetry collections, “Fragments”, “Vagabond Thoughts”, “Mysticity and Plasticity”, “Melhoun and Painting”, “Whisper of Silence”, “Icons of Feminine Plasticity”, “Africa and Art », “The Desert and Art”, “Inner Voice”…
