Written by Christelle El Chamy

Sara Ouhaddou, born in 1986 in Draguignan, France, is a Franco-Moroccan artist and designer whose practice moves fluidly between traditional Moroccan craft and contemporary conceptual art. Sara Ouhaddou’s creative foundation was shaped by a bicultural childhood spent between southern France and Meknes, Morocco, where her grandparents lived. From an early age, she was drawn to making things by hand, transforming scraps of fabric and pieces of wood, from neighborhood tailors and carpenters, into elaborate toys and objects. This intuitive, tactile process hinted at what would become a core aspect of her artistic practice. 

Ouhaddou later studied design at the École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d’art (ENSAAMA) – also known as École Olivier de Serres – in Paris. Yet, her most formative education came through working alongside her aunts in Morocco. They were women skilled in weaving, embroidery, sewing, and cooking. These informal, intergenerational collaborations became the blueprint for Ouhaddou’s artistic approach, which continues to center craft, shared knowledge, and deep partnerships with artisans. 

Working across media such as ceramics, glass, textiles, embroidery, and photography, she creates intricate, multilayered works rooted in both material knowledge and cultural history. Ouhaddou collaborates closely with artisans in diverse regions, rural and urban alike, reviving endangered practices through long-term in-situ engagement. This approach, grounded in direct, on-site collaboration, allows her to learn from traditional craft communities within their own environments. Her projects emerge from sustained research and dialogue, using art as a means to explore heritage, language, and the social and economic realities of craftsmanship. For Ouhaddou, creation is never solitary; it is a shared process, and always a form of cultural and communal empowerment.

Ouhaddou’s professional practice began to take shape in the early 2010s, evolving into a committed, community-based approach. By 2013, she was organizing and leading workshops across Morocco, designed to confront the marginalization of traditional artisans and the gradual disappearance of craft knowledge in local economies. These workshops became more than just creative spaces, they served as platforms for dialogue and collaboration between contemporary artists and craftspeople. Together, they produced works that reflect the complex social, political, and economic realities faced by these communities. Ouhaddou’s practice is deeply rooted in Morocco’s colonial history, particularly the policies of the French Protectorate, which reclassified traditional crafts as decorative arts and stripped them of their everyday value. This shift disrupted the functional and economic role of artisanship, a rupture that globalization has only deepened.

One of the artist’s most notable pieces is Sin Ithran, Ur Mqadan, Rousn, 2020, which translates from Tamazight to Two stars, Unbalanced, They burn. This striking piece features two large circular stained glass panels reminiscent of the vibrant and intricate windows of Moroccan madrassas. At its center lies an evolving, personal alphabet, a fusion of Amazigh, Arabic, and Latin scripts, that Ouhaddou uses to transliterate Moroccan oral poetry. These characters often transcend their original linguistic meanings, becoming elaborate patterns and structural elements within her pieces. To bring her stained-glass visions to life, Ouhaddou immersed herself in the nearly forgotten art of traditional glassmaking in Morocco. She sought out specialists who still practiced medieval techniques, and learned from them while then passing that knowledge to artisans who now collaborate with her. Thus, she revived a disappearing craft, honoring a Moroccan craftsmanship legacy, and ensuring its place in contemporary art. Ouhaddou’s aesthetic is deeply rooted in symbolic and linguistic exploration. Her work invites viewers into a world where language, craft, and memory intertwine, illuminating the power of tradition in shaping modern expression.

Throughout her career, Ouhaddou has worked in various Moroccan regions, including the Ourika Valley, the High Atlas Mountains, Tétouan, and multiple medinas across the country. In each location, she collaborates with local artisans, reactivating traditional techniques in ceramics, weaving, glass, and embroidery. These practices are not just aesthetic exercises but also vehicles for cultural preservation and economic resilience. Her approach is both contemporary and communal, relying on a hybrid of research, fieldwork, and shared authorship.

Building on these collaborations, Partition I, 2023, part of the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF) collection, exemplifies Ouhaddou’s ongoing dialogue between traditional craft and contemporary form. Created in partnership with artisans from Tamegroute, renowned for their signature green-glazed ceramics, the work extends her commitment to reviving ancestral techniques while situating them within new aesthetic frameworks. Measuring 135 x 88 cm, the hand-sculpted ceramic piece presents an intricate grid of interlocking geometric segments, each glazed in subtly shifting hues of deep terracotta, crimson, mustard yellow, forest green, cobalt blue, pale pink, orange, and dark plum.  The surface is both textured and luminous, bearing the marks of manual labor and layered craftsmanship. Formally, the piece resembles a fragment of an architectural screen or tilework panel, invoking the rhythmic patterns of Islamic design while introducing asymmetry and abstraction. Through Partition I, Ouhaddou transforms ceramic into a site of cultural memory and experimentation, bridging historical narrative with contemporary expression.

Sara Ouhaddou occupies a unique space in contemporary art, where traditional craft becomes a dynamic language of resistance and cultural memory. Her work engages global conversations on heritage and identity while remaining rooted in the communities and histories that shape it. Based between Paris and Marrakech, Ouhaddou continues to work closely with artisans through in-situ fieldwork, fostering shared authorship and cultural sustainability at the heart of her practice.

Edited by Elsie Labban

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Notes

¹ Caevel, Eva Barois De. 2021. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste_prixaware/sara-ouhaddou/.

² Caevel, Eva Barois De. 2021. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste_prixaware/sara-ouhaddou/.

³ Fondation Thalie. 2024. Sara Ouhaddou - Take a Seat, Have Some Tea. June. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://fondationthalie.org/en/arles/assieds-toi-prends-un-verre-de-thesara-ouhaddou/.

⁴ Cité Internationale des Arts. n.d. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.citedesartsparis.net/en/sara-ouhaddou-art-explora.

⁵ IFA Gallery Berlin. 2024. Artist Talk with Sara Ouhaddou and curator Alya Sebti. September 30. Accessed May 10, 2025.

⁶ Caevel, Eva Barois De. 2021. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste_prixaware/sara-ouhaddou/.

⁷ Othmani, Beya. 2023. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 11, 2025. https://elainealain.fr/artists/sara-ouhaddou.

⁸ IFA Gallery Berlin. 2024. Artist Talk with Sara Ouhaddou and curator Alya Sebti. September 30. Accessed May 10, 2025.

⁹ IFA Gallery Berlin. 2024. Artist Talk with Sara Ouhaddou and curator Alya Sebti. September 30. Accessed May 10, 2025.

¹0 Wilmotte & Associés. 2024. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 11, 2025. https://www.wilmotte.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sara-Ouhaddou-2024-.pdf.

¹1 Deco Actuelle. 2023. Le Comptoir des Mines vous convie au vernissage de l’exposition individuelle de Sara Ouhaddou نور على نور / Lumière sur lumière jeudi 28 décembre, à 17h. December 25. Accessed May 11, 2025. https://www.decoactuelle.ma/le-comptoir-des-mines-vous-convie-au-vernissage-de-lexposition-individuelle-de-sara-ouhaddou-نور-على-نور-lumiere-sur-lumiere-jeudi-28-decembre-a-17h/.

Bibliography

Caevel, Eva Barois De. 2021. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste_prixaware/sara-ouhaddou/.

Salma Feriani. 2025. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.selmaferiani.com/artists/100-sara-ouhaddou/biography/.

Fondation Thalie. 2024. Sara Ouhaddou - Take a Seat, Have Some Tea. June. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://fondationthalie.org/en/arles/assieds-toi-prends-un-verre-de-thesara-ouhaddou/.

Cité Internationale des Arts. n.d. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.citedesartsparis.net/en/sara-ouhaddou-art-explora.

IFA Gallery Berlin. 2024. Artist Talk with Sara Ouhaddou and curator Alya Sebti. September 30. Accessed May 10, 2025.

Othmani, Beya. 2023. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 11, 2025. https://elainealain.fr/artists/sara-ouhaddou.

Wilmotte & Associés. 2024. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 11, 2025. https://www.wilmotte.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sara-Ouhaddou-2024-.pdf.

Deco Actuelle. 2023. Le Comptoir des Mines vous convie au vernissage de l’exposition individuelle de Sara Ouhaddou نور على نور / Lumière sur lumière jeudi 28 décembre, à 17h. December 25. Accessed May 11, 2025. https://www.decoactuelle.ma/le-comptoir-des-mines-vous-convie-au-vernissage-de-lexposition-individuelle-de-sara-ouhaddou-نور-على-نور-lumiere-sur-lumiere-jeudi-28-decembre-a-17h/.

Villa Albertine. 2023. Sara Ouhaddou. Accessed May 11, 2025. https://villa-albertine.org/va/residents/sara-ouhaddou/.