M7 is set to present Amazigh Hair Couture, an exhibition that celebrates the artistry, heritage, and cultural symbolism of Amazigh hair traditions, specifically from Morocco, from October 27 to January 12, 2026.Amazigh Hair Couture reclaims authorship of the aesthetic traditions of the Amazigh people, the Indigenous communities of North Africa, whose traditions are rooted primarily across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, the Sahara, and Egypt’s Siwa region, which have been historically co-opted by the global fashion industry.Organised across four thematic zones - Roots and Rituals, Body and Soul, Reframing the Gaze, and Crafting Continuity - the exhibition explores how hair serves as a vital carrier of memory, beauty, resistance, and identity within matrilineal Amazigh cultures.Drawing from a history stretching back to the Neolithic period, around 10,000 BC, the works on view span archival material contemporary practice, and highlight the resilience, creativity, and dignity embedded in these rituals, affirming hair as a medium of care, representation, and intergenerational legacy.In a press statement, M7 director Maha Ghanim al-Sulaiti said: "We are proud to continue our partnership with (creative director) Ilham Mestour and provide a platform for Arab and North African designers and artists such as Lalla Essaydi and Amina Agueznay to continue to champion and reclaim authorship over their narratives, sharing traditions in ways that are both contemporary and rooted in culture”.The exhibition, led Moroccan-born and Netherlands-based artist Mestour and curated by interdisciplinary artist and a curator based in Rotterdam, Rajae El Mouhandiz, brings together fine art photography, scent, hair installations, textile works, and ethnographic archival material. The exhibition offers an homage, reimagining ancestral Amazigh hairstyles as sculptural forms, poetic gestures, and powerful symbols of generational strength.Mestour said: "Through this exhibition, I honour my Amazigh ancestry by transforming inherited rituals into my work globally, carrying forward the voices of the past. My collaboration with M7, from teaching in the Mastering Hair masterclass to presenting my work in this exhibition, enables me to continue to share these traditions and ensure they remain alive for future generations of creatives.”Mouhandiz said: "Amazigh Hair Couture is more than an exhibition; it is a tribute to the women who wove resistance into braids and encoded memory into form. By presenting hair as a living archive of memory, beauty, and resilience, we affirm the matrilineal traditions that have carried Amazigh identity across generations”."Through a mixture of archival footage, visual art, a scent installation, and pieces from the Qatar Museums collection, the exhibition creates a dialogue between heritage and the present. It reframes these practices as both contemporary and timeless, reclaiming a visual language that has too often been appropriated, restoring it to its rightful context of dignity and creativity.”Celebrated artists such as Lalla Essaydi and Amina Agueznay will also participate in the exhibition, contributing to widening the dialogue around heritage, identity and contemporary expression.Amazigh Hair Couture is organised as a legacy of the Qatar - Morocco 2024 Year of Culture, which was one of the initiative’s most beloved celebrations, with a strong legacy of ongoing partnerships across heritage, creative economies, social and economic development and innovation.
October 19, 2025 | 06:04 PM