Fez — Galerie Nadar has opened “Cinquante” (Fifty), an exhibition that gathers 50 artists from across Morocco around a single idea and a single constraint.
Open to the public until January 21, the show marks both the 50th anniversary of the Green March and the fiftieth year of the gallery itself.
A double anniversary in a 50 x 50 frame
The exhibition is part of the national commemoration of the Green March and also celebrates Galerie Nadar’s own history. The concept is simple and strict: fifty artists, each working on a canvas that measures 50 x 50 centimeters. That fixed square is the backbone of the project, linking works that come from different regions, generations, and styles.
According to the gallery team, the format was chosen to echo both anniversaries and to act as a visible thread between the Green March as a founding moment and Nadar as one of Casablanca’s long standing art spaces. The result is a dense wall of works that are unified by size but varied in approach.
Some artists decided to respond directly to the themes of the Green March or to the gallery’s story. Others chose a more open path, letting their own concerns, symbols, or abstract research guide the work. The organizers see this mix as part of the point, since it allows commemoration and personal expression to coexist in the same frame.
One format, many voices
For many of the invited artists, the 50 x 50 format represented a real creative challenge. Some are used to large surfaces or to installations that are not limited by a strict frame. Being asked to think inside a fixed square pushed them to condense ideas, adjust their composition, and sometimes try different techniques.
The curatorial team notes that this constraint helped bring out new solutions while giving the show a clear visual rhythm. Repetition of the same size creates order, even as the content shifts from figurative to abstract and from direct narrative to more symbolic language.
At the same time, the unified format and the number of participants give the exhibition a symbolic weight. The grid of fifty squares refers back to both the Green March and the fifty years of Galerie Nadar, and the presence of artists from several regions underlines the national scope of the project.
Sahara motifs and living memory
Among the contributions, painter Nawal Sekkat presented an installation rather than a single isolated painting. Her work brings together painting, sculpture, and emblematic objects in a small immersive environment. It draws inspiration from the Sahara, with references to desert flowers, sand roses, and southern pearls.
Through these elements, Sekkat evokes the passing of time, transformation, and a rise in perspective over the fifty year period that the exhibition marks. Her piece mirrors the wider intention of the show, which is to connect past and present in a way that feels both symbolic and concrete.
Honoring the Green March and a pioneering gallery
“Cinquante” pays tribute to 50 years of the Green March as a central reference in Moroccan collective memory. At the same time, it celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Galerie Nadar, founded by Leila Faraoui, recognized as the first woman to open an art gallery in the Arab world.
For half a century, the gallery has helped support and reveal Moroccan visual artists. With this exhibition, it uses its own anniversary not just to look back, but to gather a wide range of contemporary voices in a shared format. The number fifty becomes more than a date: it turns into a common surface where history, personal stories, and artistic research meet.
