The exhibition of the Francophone writer "Tahar Benjelloun" under the slogan "The Color of Words" will be held from 10 to 30 June at the "Atelier 21" gallery in Marrakech.

Tahar Ben Jelloun lives between Paris and Marrakesh, and being a writer and poet, he is close to drawing and has an intimate relationship with colours. His love for drawing goes back to his childhood days, when he used to paint on white wrapping paper from the spice shop that his father ran. This passion did not leave him neither during his school days nor even when he was imprisoned for nineteen months in a disciplinary camp.

Taher Ben Jelloun is one of the few artists who combines writing and drawing. He used to knock on the doors of cinemas, museums and libraries to gain knowledge. There is a relationship between the writer’s writing profession and his passion for drawing, so the artist needs these two activities to find a kind of balance and entertainment, and this is what he explained in the introduction to the exhibition catalog Every time I explain how I go from writing to painting through the worlds I've lived and it's about injustice, loneliness and exile. But I needed to explore the other side of this dark universe, the place is like meeting an old friend that lights my way." He adds, "I started painting to make people forget this." The dark part that I write about in my novels.”

All of his paintings are inspired by his happy childhood in Morocco, emblazoned with the blue of the ocean and inspired by the colorful scarves of his cheerful mother in the water. It is worth noting that when his paintings were first shown at the IMA Museum in 2017, Tahar Ben Jelloun announced that he seeks to paint the light of the world.

His paintings entered many collections of private and public art museums such as museums in Spain, Italy, France and Morocco.

All his paintings are displayed in Marrakesh, these paintings were influenced by the Marrakesh sun, with its wonderful light and pure air, they are paintings that reflect visual pleasure, beautiful magic, vision of the horizon, and poetic flashes that leave their impact on the human soul.