From an attentive observation of knowledge traditional arts, a compelling desire for contemporaneity to a heightened sensitivity to social upheavals, one of Farid Belkahia's profound interests lies in exploring the manifestations of violence, particularly as experienced by individuals who are impassioned by a wide spectrum of political ideals. His artistic forms often appear disembodied, drawing inspiration from the rich material culture.

In choosing skin as a medium after a focus on copper, Belkahia not only pays homage to parchment, the traditional support for ancient knowledge before the emergence of paper, but also draws inspiration from traditional mediums in Islamic arts. He also challenges the legacy of colonial art by asserting the role of vernacular techniques in a postcolonial perspective as Fatima Zahra Lakrissa explains.[1]

Skin, undoubtedly, is a fabric of decomposition, where death teems, a viscous texture that retains the memory of blood. It portrays a flaccid body emptied of its flesh, with a soul compelled to expel the stench. “Faced by the political disarray and famine in Somalia. Belkahia put his feelings down in drawings and as his custom, two large works on skin. Both called Somalia.”[2]

The use of such mediums serve as a voice, speaking to the traditions and the future of humanity. Belkahia stages these situational expressions as a depiction of the conflicts in a postcolonial world, as portrayed through these dyed animal skins.

He embraces forms and symbols as a revival of an ornamental language through the envisioned union between the artwork and its environment.

[1] Catalogue Farid Belkahia, Pour une autre modernité, Editions du Centre Pomipdou, Paris 2021, p123

[2] Rajae Benchemsi, Farid Belkahia, Skira en co-édition avec la Galerie L’Atelier 21, Milan 2013 ,p 96