Amine El Gotaibi

Trained at the Institut National des Beaux-Arts in Tétouan (2008), he works across mediums, orchestrating an innovative interplay between natural and industrial materials – most notably Corten steel, wool, rammed earth, and custom-engineered mechanical systems.

El Gotaibi’s practice examines the complex relationships between territory, memory, and social hierarchy, drawing from the landscapes of North Africa – its deserts, mountains, and histories of migration – as symbols of dignity, resistance, and survival. His work interrogates how African identities are constructed from both within and beyond the continent, often through monumental forms that challenge scale, narrative, and expectation. Signature projects such as Ring of Submission (2014) at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and Territory National (2016), an intervention spanning regions across Morocco, reveal an ongoing commitment to confronting structures of power while reclaiming visual and material traditions.

Major contributions include the monumental Ba Moyi Ya Afrika at the Young Congo Biennial (2019) and Sun(W)hole at the Nirox Foundation (2020), a 15-meter rammed earth wall overlooking the sculpture park and acting as a call to action against stasis and erasure. His long-term research project VISIT to Okavango (initiated in 2011) furthers the artist’s “continental vision,” imagining futures in which Africa’s cultural and ecological wealth is fully acknowledged. In 2023, his installation Illuminate the Light at Somerset House in London celebrated African abundance through towering Corten steel structures.

El Gotaibi’s international profile continues to rise. In 2024, he presented Desert of the North at the Doha Design Biennial and was nominated for the 2025 Norval Prize. His recent display of monumental works at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha further affirms his standing among the artists redefining contemporary art from Africa on the global stage.