Fatima Ezzahra Khilad, known professionally as Tima, has emerged as a distinctive voice in the international street art scene, carrying the traditional Safi pottery vase as her signature across murals from Rabat to Chicago. The passionate and talented artist seamlessly combines drawing and painting techniques, breaking barriers between classical canvas work and large-scale street art. Her work now illustrates the artistic freedom she has achieved through her ability to break down conventional approaches and create her own recognizable universe, marked by an omnipresent yet simple signature: the Safi vase.
From Morocco's cities of Rabat, Saïdia, and Azemmour to Chicago in the United States, passing through Montreal in Quebec, Vienna in Austria, London in the United Kingdom, and Valencia in France, the Safi vase has found its way into street art on a global scale. This heritage, which tells the story of an ancestral ceramic practice and has become an icon of artisans throughout an entire region, is slowly but surely making its rounds at international mural painting events thanks to the painter and visual artist Fatima Ezzahra Khilad.
For Tima, this art object serves as both her signature and a way to revisit the childhood that deeply marked her. Through this symbol, she celebrates the memory of her two grandparents, who collected the most unlikely models of this vase. More than just a decorative element drawn from local heritage or a trademark inscribed in folklore, it represents a personal symbol that Tima uses to question fragments of the past, what remains in the present, and what projects into the future.
Interestingly, Fatima Ezzahra Khilad is not originally from Safi, but this artisanal element has become her family heritage. "My grandparents are from Bejaâd, but they are great enthusiasts of the Safi vase. They always bought them and had them everywhere in their house!" Tima confides with intact fascination after all these years. Another fascination that shaped her artistic orientation was her aunt's passion for sewing and sketching. "During my childhood, I always loved my aunt's universe. I adored the female silhouettes she drew, and since then, I dedicated my free time to drawing. My entire room was invaded! I hung my drawings on all the walls of my room," she tells Yabiladi.
Born in Khouribga, Tima never imagined that her professional path would redirect toward her childhood passions of drawing and painting, which would also immerse her back into her questioning about time and memories, between reverie and introspection, fleeting innocence and forgotten purity. This was ultimately confirmed after her high school graduation. "Art has always been my field of predilection. But from a certain age, we are increasingly told that our passions are leisure activities, that a successful career orientation should necessarily be different. In high school, I studied math and sciences. But when thinking about the future, I wanted to invest in something that would allow me to combine business with pleasure," Fatima Ezzahra Khilad explains.
Tima chose the Higher School of Fine Arts in Casablanca, from which she graduated in 2019. Less than a year later, she was caught up in the health crisis. During the confinement period in 2020, she felt the need to find an escape. In addition to making canvas and painting her refuge, she thought about applying her creative process to the walls around her. Why couldn't they themselves become drawing supports, after having long served to hang her childhood drawings? "I thought a lot about this, contemplating the walls of the house's roof. It was on this terrace that I started to practice, determined to do street art," she confides.
Initially passionate about figurative art and surrealism, Tima primarily relied on her classical training destined for galleries. But from there, she thought about broadening her vision while continuing to make visual art through muralism and street art. "We are both painters and visual artists. My technique on canvas is practically the same as on the wall. Each time it's also a reflection on how to adapt the use of paint and materials. The format is different, but the essence is the same," Tima explains.
"My approach is practically the same. It's just that when I paint a painting, I use a palette, I'm in my room or in my studio, whereas with street art, I use paint buckets, I go down several times to check the progress of my creation from a good distance, I envision the finishing differently. I also exchange with passersby or curious people who discuss with me what I'm doing," she adds.
In a short time, the discipline paid off. Fatima Ezzahra Khilad is not intimidated by the mural dimension of an artistic project. As soon as health measures were gradually lifted, she participated in the 2022 edition of the Jidar International Street Art Festival in Rabat. "My contribution attracted the attention of many non-initiates and connoisseurs. This participation allowed me to gain visibility. It was from there that I started being invited to mural performances," the artist acknowledges, who also participated in the second edition of Street Art Inside at HIBA_Lab the same year.
Tima was also marked by her first participation outside the borders, where she was able to make her childhood vase travel to Chicago. She created the "Self Reflection" mural in 2022 for Columbia College Chicago, in collaboration with Chicago Sister Cities for the promotion of intercultural arts and tourism, global education, international trade and governmental exchanges. She also gave interventions as part of a club at Francis Parker School with students who created their mural based on these interactions.
With her, the Safi vase subsequently made stops at Montreal's Mural Festival, Calle Libre in Vienna, the London Mural Festival, and more recently at the Walls Love Festival in Valencia. "I'm happy when people tell me they now recognize my works, both by the enigmatic style of female characters and by this object that has become a signature. The potters of the city of Safi regularly give me feedback, appreciate my paintings, and even invite me to their workshops," Tima confides, finding these encounters formative.
"I really appreciate these moments: the exchanges during street art meetings abroad, in Moroccan cities, or with connoisseurs of Safi ceramics. I'm delighted that my works can pay tribute to our artisans. This vase is a detail that always arouses interest, and I like to tell in different countries that this object and its artisans have a long history," Tima explains.
Today, Tima still uses this element that has accompanied her at all ages. "Without being an artistic positioning, it has become a common thread in my creations," she comments. Subtly, she decides to maintain the presence of female figures in her creations. This is notably a way to encourage other talented young girls and women to dare to try street art. "There are few in the world and even fewer in Morocco," she says.
Tima especially hopes that her contribution can inspire some to orient themselves toward muralism if they wish. Daring to break down artistic approaches, again and always, she works to adapt her female characters, muses of the Safi vase, into figurines. Through her journey from the rooftops of her family home to international festivals, Tima continues to bridge the gap between traditional Moroccan craftsmanship and contemporary urban art, ensuring that the heritage of Safi pottery finds new life on walls around the world.
