Mohamed Melehi: Arabian Moucharabieh

Through his Moucharabieh series, Mohamed Melehi maintains a link with his 1960s works through the visual pattern of the wave. Melehi’s study of pre-Islamic art led him to identify the wave pattern as a structural unit or fundamental signifier in most of Afro-Arab visual cultures – from the Berber to the Mesopotamian but also Andalusian. His recent production encapsulates multiple, almost infinite, variations on a motif that suggests movement, fluidity and sensuality; but also cosmological relations, playing out between the sun, the sea, the clouds, and the horizon.