Rabat — Tetouan-born artist Younes Rahmoun opened his exhibit “Habba – Chajara – Zahra” (Seed – Tree – Flower) at Mohammed VI Museum in Rabat today. The event welcomed artists and the public alike to take the time to sit in stillness.
Rahmoun’s art explores spirituality and universalism, aiming to blend “his personal world, heritage, beliefs, and life experiences. His work has been shown in more than 25 different counties and almost 170 different spaces including Palais de Tokyo and the National Museum of African Art.
The artist has a persistent focus on natural and personal cyclical growth, facilitating a meditative viewing experience for visitors, as highlighted by his recent exposition “Here, Now” at Smith College Museum of Art in the US.
In an interview with Morocco World News (MWN), Rahmoun said that it’s an honor to share his work in Morocco. The artist discussed his roots, saying that he chose “naturally to stay in his city” where he was born and teach in his alma mater, the National Institute of Fine Arts, in Tetouan.
This strong connection instilled in him the desire to present his work in his own country, although he acknowledged it is not “easy” to do so. The artist said that many “spaces are small” with equally small budgets. However, the Mohammed VI Museum presents an exciting experience, one that he calls an “opportunity to dream.”
Working with such a museum allows the artist access to a breadth of resources, a request that might be hard to fulfill in other spaces in Morocco. He explained that he was able to tell the museum “I need ten big screens for this work,” and “very good quality of equipment” for the sound systems, which the museum responded “‘Okay, no problem.’”
Ramoun emphasized that he was very happy for the chance to work with the Mohammed VI Museum, stating: “I need to show my work for the Moroccan public.”
The artist also highlighted to MWN the diverse audience Mohammed VI Museum brings and appreciates that his art won’t just be seen by an “elitist public” or only people that are familiar with contemporary art, but by all kinds of Moroccan and foreign visitors.
The immersive video installation, the one of the first of its kind from a Moroccan artist, explores the metamorphosis of existence, from buried seed, to rising tree, and finally to flower. Each stage represents a state of being that is both intimate and universal.
The screens display the gradual development from seed to a unique blossomed flower.
When asked what he hoped audiences would take away from the exhibit, Rahmoun said that he wants people to recognize the importance of taking their time and slowing down in life.
The artist hopes the audience will sit in the stillness of the exhibit, hearing their own deep breaths.
“We are running all the time and we don’t have time to hear the rhythm of our heart,” the artist told MWN, encouraging visitors to slow down and be in the “here and now.”
Rahmoun said his piece is inspired by nature and how it “can help us have this experience of being alone with ourselves and to hear our respiration.”
As an artist, he is always trying to translate the spiritual experiences that come from being alone in nature to art for his family, neighbors, and broader communities. He hopes to “translate the sensations, those feelings, and those experiences” that he “can’t explain with words,” using his “favorite language: the physical art.”
Rahmoun ended the interview saying that he hopes the installation gives the audience the opportunity “Just meditate about what we see, what we hear, but also what we are, what we have inside us, what we have inside our hearts.”
“Habba – Chajara – Zahra” the artist’s respite from the fast-paced world, is open to the public until March 30, 2026.
