Art with Perspective: How Imane Kamal Idrissi express her Art in layers

NATIONWIDE - AUGUST 2025 - (USAnews.com) — The afternoon light filtered through sheets of plexiglass in Imane Kamal Idrissi's Lisbon studio, casting overlapping shadows that danced like the memories of her childhood in Casablanca. As a four-year-old, she would stand beside her father, Moulay Noureddine Kamal Idrissi, grinding pigments and stretching canvases in their home studio. She didn't know then that these quiet moments—watching paint transform blank surfaces into worlds—would lead her to stand before King Mohammed VI twenty-five years later, presenting a revolutionary artwork that would hang in Morocco's Royal Palace in Rabat.

"My father never told me to become an artist," Imane recalls, her hands moving instinctively toward a stack of transparent panels. "He simply showed me that art was a language for speaking truths we couldn't express in words." Those early years in the 1980s, surrounded by her father's recreations of Van Gogh's swirling skies and the smell of linseed oil, planted seeds that would bloom into an artistic practice unlike anything the contemporary art world had seen.

The turning point came unexpectedly. After years of working with traditional oil paintings and experimental collages incorporating everything from vintage fabric to discarded banknotes, Imane discovered plexiglass—not as a surface, but as a dimension. One evening in her Maputo studio in 2016, frustrated with the limitations of single-plane portraits, she began layering transparent and opaque sheets, painting fragments of the same face across multiple surfaces. When she stepped back and aligned them, something magical happened: the portrait breathed,  it was the portrait of “President of Mozambique Samora Machel”, that his widow Mrs Graça Machel also the widow of Nelson Mandela  recognized as a master piece and 

from left to right: Malengani machel, Graça Machel, Imane KI

On the memorial celebration of “Samora Machel”

This technique—which she would later perfect and showcase across continents—caught the attention of international collectors and curators. But it wasn't just the innovation that captivated audiences. It was how Imane used this multi-dimensional approach to capture the complexity of identity, particularly for those navigating between cultures, as she had done moving between Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa, and now Portugal.

from left to right: Imane KI, Alessandra Silvano (president of CPS)

The invitation to the 19th Throne Day celebration in 2019 arrived like a summons to destiny. His Majesty King Mohammed VI had specifically requested Imane's presence, having heard of the Franco-Moroccan artist whose work was redefining portraiture. She spent weeks preparing, not just the formal letter of allegiance, but a special portrait using her signature layered technique. As she stood in the ceremonial hall, presenting her creation—faces within faces, stories within stories, all unified yet distinct—she realized this moment connected everything: her father's lessons, her wandering path through African art scenes, her relentless experimentation.

The portrait now hangs in the Royal Palace in Rabat, but its impact extends far beyond those walls. Galleries from Lisbon's prestigious One Palacio de Annunciada to Maputo's Fernando Leite Couto Foundation have hosted her exhibitions. Each show reveals new facets of her evolution—from the raw emotional power of "Palette de mon âme" to the political resonance of "Art de Resistência."

Her influence spreads through unexpected channels too. The children's books she illustrated with architect-writer Elian Hawkins have introduced a generation to visual storytelling that defies conventional boundaries. The massive mural she painted at Mozambique's Ghassan Ali Ahmad Training Center transforms a wall into a portal of cultural memory. Even her workshop sessions, like the recent one at Lisbon's Arte Graça gallery, become transformative experiences where participants learn to see art not as decoration but as dimensional dialogue.

What distinguishes Imane Kamal Idrissi isn't merely her technical innovation with plexiglass or her ability to blend materials others would never consider combining. It's her understanding that contemporary art must do more than please the eye—it must reveal the layers of human experience, the transparencies and opacities that define our shared humanity. Her work doesn't ask viewers to simply observe; it demands they move, shift perspective, and recognize that truth itself is multi-layered.

Today, as she prepares for her 2025 exhibitions including the LOVE Africa Festival and "Para mais que um sonho," Imane continues pushing boundaries. Her art work “Four shades of Amalia” , one of her latest art works, is currently available for visitors at” Ah Amalia Experience" in Lisbon.  Her studio has become a laboratory where glitter meets philosophy, where banknotes become meditation on value, where transparent surfaces reveal that identity is never singular but always plural, always in conversation with itself.

For those seeking to understand where contemporary African art is heading, to witness how traditional techniques can birth revolutionary forms, or simply to experience portraiture that captures not just faces but entire worlds, Imane Kamal Idrissi's journey offers profound inspiration. Her story reminds us that the most powerful art doesn't just hang on walls—it creates new ways of seeing, new languages for expressing the ineffable complexities of being human in an interconnected world. Follow her evolving artistic journey and discover upcoming exhibitions through her Instagram @imane.k.idrissi.