“Poetry and painting”, Loubaba Laalej’s exhibition at the Hassan II Foundation for MRE

Loubaba Laalej’s “Poetry and Painting” exhibition is being held from November 14 to December 14, 2024, at the Espace Rivages of the Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans Living Abroad (MRE), where an opening is being organized, on the first day of the event. On this occasion, “a poetic reading with musical accompaniment on the lute” and a signing of the book ‘Poetry and Painting'” are on the program.

Born in Fez, Loubaba Laalej is a painter and writer, who has lived in Paris since 1956. Graduated in journalism, sociology and international studies, the influence of her artistic family environment led her to writing and painting , from his childhood. Over the decades, she has held exhibitions in several countries: France, Italy, Vietnam, Spain… She has also written numerous collections of poems: “Fragments”, “Wandering thoughts”, “Mysticity and plasticity”, “Melhoun and painting”, “Poetry and painting”, “Icons of feminine plasticity”…

In 2019, Loubaba Laalej received an honorary doctorate from the Fine Arts Forum International, recognition of his career. Furthermore, she is a member of the permanent office of the League of African Women Writers and the Alliance of Arab Creators.

Suffice it to say that Loubaba Laalej transgresses painting with poetry. “It provokes a dialogue on the surface of the canvas where poetry takes shape through color. A pictorial experience where a reconciliation is born between the two arts. His migratory experience has nourished his creative impulse which is intended to be off the beaten track,” said a press release from the Hassan II Foundation for MREs.

The choice of Loubaba Laalej is motivated by the fact that “the poetic dictation refers to the pictorial act and vice versa”. “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. It makes the artist a ‘phoenix reborn from his own ashes’,” she emphasizes.

She thus believes that these two universes are in permanent dialogue. “Poetry exalts and liberates what painting veils in the invisible. Between them, the limits are fraying,” explains the artist. In other words, Loubaba Laalej maintains that “poetry is not a painting that becomes words. It’s a painting that is made of colors and shapes.”