Moroccan art to visit campus

Moroccan-born artist Hamid Kachmar weaves cultures together in his multimedia pieces, which will be exhibited in the Sonja Haynes Stone Center beginning today.

Kachmar will kick off the 31-piece exhibit tonight with a public reception.

Most people think of Morocco as an Arabic country, Kachmar said, but he wants the public to see its native African culture. Most Moroccans are African and speak the native Berber tongue, as does Kachmar.

“I do not want people just to look at my work and say ‘Oh, Moroccan art.’ I want them to read it on their own and have their own mystical, spiritual relationship with it,” Kachmar said.

He uses contemporary Western display techniques, such as canvases, as vehicles to present the Berber culture to Western audiences.

Pulling from Berber culture, Kachmar said he is influenced by the local rituals and ceremonies.

Earth tones, patterns and symbols from the Berber alphabet also reflect his native culture.

Kachmar shapes materials including wood, goatskin and silk screen to create his mixed media pieces.

As is common in Berber culture, he carved wood and wove textiles to create some of these pieces.

The weaving is also a metaphor for the connection between all cultures of the world, Kachmar said.

The Moroccan influence present in his works ties into the Stone Center’s theme this year of “Passion and Remembrance: Dislocation/Relocation/Diaspora.”

The fall programming for the center sets to explore the contemporary and historical movements of people and the social dynamics that tend to define their daily lives, said Olympia Friday, public relations officer for the Stone Center.

Additional guidance for exhibit visitors will be provided by audio tour company Guide by Cell. The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 4.

For Kachmar the process of creating the art is more valuable than the outcome.

“When I’m working it’s like a journey and when I’m done it’s like a turn back,” Kachmar said, adding that after a work is completed, he is disconnected from it.

“I go far away into time and space and when I’m done I come back and say, ‘Here I am again.’”


Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.