Born in Casablanca, Hakim Ghazali was sent to a Qur’anic school at the age of three where he developed
an early appreciation for line, form and color through the beauty of the Arabic script. Having taken his study of plastic arts in his hometown to its very limits, his talent attracted the attention of the state. It was not
long before Ghazali was awarded a scholarship by the Moroccan Minister of Culture and was on his way to France to study at the leading schools of art and design in Amiens and Paris.
Ghazali’s introduction to graphic design and printing and his subsequent examination of these fields further inspired a fascination for the language and morphology of letters, which has flourished over the years. Today, he leads a dual existence; one as a leading contemporary artist and the other as an innovator of Arabic type fonts, something which is in high demand. In December 2006 Linotype, the world’s largest font library, named Ghazali as a winner in its first ever Arabic Type Design competition in Hamburg, Germany. He was recognized by the Sharjah Arabic Calligraphy Biennial for his creation in 2006; a fluid and graceful swirl of movement derived from an ancient Moroccan style of calligraphy.
Ghazali’s life as a creator of fonts has naturally infused his artistic career. He often incorporates typeset texts and newsprint into his abstract artworks, which express the spiritual nature of North Africa. Highly experimental yet instantly recognizable, Ghazali has forged a formidable reputation as a prolific artist. Since his first exhibition in 1985 at the Hyatt Regency in Casablanca, Ghazali’s art has travelled the world and received acclaim from collectors and curators across the Middle East and beyond.
Albareh Art Gallery was the first gallery to exhibit his famous series of ‘’Moroccan doors’’. Hakim has participated in numerous collective exhibitions and biennials in France, Italy, Bangladesh, Dubai, and Syria. He was part of many of the auctions including Bonham’s auction (Nov 2008) and Christies’ auctions
in 2007 and 2008.