Born in Rabat in 1991, Mostafa Saifi Rahmouni lives and works between Brussels and Rabat. He completed his post-master's degree at the HISK (Ghent), after training at the Institut National des Beaux-arts de Tétouan, then at ENSAV-La Cambre (sculpture atelier).
Working primarily in sculpture and photography, Mostafa considers the physical and psychological landscape. With distinct poetics, he creates concise forms that reflect on experiences both personal and societal. Referring to scenes of fatality that exist all too often in the everyday – of burial sites, of illicit actions, and of ritual slaughter – Rahmouni describes to us a reality of mortality and sacrifice. Simple yet pensive, his forms are in a state of flux – ‘ready-made’ sculptures look hand-crafted, hand-crafted objects appear ready-made, and images float between mournfulness and optimism.
He has exhibited in Berlin (Rosalux), Brussels (Centrale-Lab and BOZAR as part of the Moussem Cities Festival), Beirut (Sharjah Biennial) and at the 63rd Salon de Montrouge. He has participated in numerous exhibitions in Europe. In 2017, he received the prize of the 9th Watch This Space biennial and the prize of the 9th edition of the young sculpture of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, then in 2019 the Sabam prize of the ArtContest competition. In 2020, he took part in the residency programme of WIELS, an art centre in Brussels. In 2021, he is selected by the Young Artist Fund organised by the Middelheim Museum in Antwerp.
Moussem already showed work by Mostafa during Moussem Cities Casablanca and as part of the Moussem Vitrine project. In 2021 a long-term residency will start with the installation No Land's Man at Moussem Gallery. His new installation The Visible Part / La partie visible can be seen at the Middelheim Museum from 18 September to 12 December 2021. In February 2022 his solo exhibition The Front Line will start at M HKA as part of the Moussem Collection / IN SITU project.
