Born in 1946 in Marrakech, the deceased devoted himself to painting after a rich career in the cinema. From 1966 to 1973, he pursued his higher education at the National Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. During this period, he was introduced to the works of the great masters of both Slavic and Western painting.
His pictorial compositions have been greatly influenced by his cinematographic experience. In the 1980s, when the artist began to work and live alternately in Morocco and Russia, the themes and forms of his own mythology appeared. Since the 1990s, they have become the hallmark of his pictorial work.
Mohamed Abouelouakar’s paintings were influenced by Russian lyricism and Byzantine miniature. Many of his early paintings displayed vivid colors and an abundance of figures. His works were characterized by a body of figures, symbols and atmospheres borrowed from the Western repertoire and reinterpreted according to the prism and references of his own culture.
From cinema to painting and photography, Abouelouakar composed, in 1990, “Sufi Tales,” a set of photographs depicting a quest for inner grace.
In 1984, he directed “Hadda,” the feature film that earned him the Grand Prize at the 2nd Moroccan National Film Festival.
