Mimouni El Houssaïne lives and teaches fine art in Montpellier, although he travels constantly between the two Mediterranean shores of Morocco and Europe. These constant coming and goings are reflected on his canvases in a game of symbols, spattered written texts and horizons in perspective. El Houssaïne’s work weaves the intricate dialect of yearning for other shores, spurned on by the desire to leave, to return, or simply to dream of being in a different place. He explains, “yearning for the other shore, is a translation of my thoughts of returning to my country, going back to my roots. It also symbolizes a return to the light, so very unique to Africa”.

In his works, the many crossings are represented by means of recurring symbols such as canoes, bundles of sticks or ladders reaching for the sky. Painting, collage, materials and text are combined in a score etched in the heart of one for whom the quest for the invisible seems more irrepressible than ever. Each curve is a meditation, the slightest trace a search towards an elevated state of mind susceptible of reaching the sky. Taking inspiration from his travels, but also from music, Tuareg sounds, Flamenco and Sufi music, El Houssaïne’s work is layered with lyrical symbolisms. Timeless landscapes, graphic writing and splashes of colour are open to imagination, peppered with forms and shapes that verge between drawing and speech. The works hold no human figure, but the features of humanity are delicately outlined in every detail.