A Curatorial Hub for Cultural Narratives
A production studio in Casablanca creating photography, video, curatorial projects, and art–technology collaborations.
The studio also operates as a residency space for artists and researchers working in dialogue with Casablanca.
JUNE RESIDENTS
BARBARA HERBERT
COLLAGE ARTISTBarbara Herbert
Resident Artist – Mers Sultan Residency
Barbara Herbert is a German visual artist whose practice combines collage and painting to investigate identity, perception, and the construction of the female image. Drawing from fashion magazines, found imagery, and her own painted materials, Herbert creates layered compositions that oscillate between beauty and distortion, familiarity and estrangement.
Her work challenges idealized representations of femininity by fragmenting and reassembling bodies, faces, and textures into hybrid forms that are at once playful, unsettling, and deeply human. Through a process of cutting, layering, and transformation, Herbert reveals the tensions between individual identity and the visual culture that surrounds us.
Trained at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Michael Buthe, Herbert's practice extends the language of painting through collage, placing particular emphasis on color, materiality, and surface. Her works have been described as existing between social critique and poetic reconstruction, confronting contemporary media imagery while maintaining a profound sensitivity to form and composition.
During her residency in Casablanca, Barbara Herbert will pursue a period of research and artistic production, engaging with the city's visual culture, architecture, textures, and everyday rhythms while developing new work informed by her experience in Morocco.
ILLUSTRATION ARTIST ISSAM FARIANE
Issam Fariane
Fellow Artist — Mers Sultan Residency
Issam Fariane is a Casablanca-based painter whose practice explores form, color, and material through an intuitive and process-driven approach to image-making.
As the inaugural Fellow Artist of Mers Sultan Residency, Issam joins the program as part of a local initiative designed to foster exchange between Moroccan artists and visiting international residents. Through access to studio facilities, shared workspaces, and ongoing dialogue with artists from diverse backgrounds, the fellowship seeks to strengthen connections within Casablanca's cultural ecosystem while supporting the development of emerging and established local practices.
During his fellowship, Issam will use the studio facilities of Yasmine Laraqui Studio to pursue a period of artistic research and production, developing new paintings while participating in the daily life of the residency. His presence contributes to the spirit of exchange that lies at the heart of the program, creating opportunities for conversations, collaborations, and encounters between local and international artists.
The Fellowship Program reflects Mers Sultan Residency's commitment to supporting artistic creation not only through international residencies but also through meaningful engagement with the creative communities that shape contemporary Casablanca.
Our Branches
OPEN CALLS
Associate Program
The Associate Program is a curatorial label for independent practitioners. We provide the professional infrastructure and strategic direction needed to move a project from research to public exhibition. Being an Associate at Palmier means integrating into a rigorous ecosystem of local and international talent.
THE RESIDENCY
A space for research and experimentation in the heart of Mers Sultan, Casablanca.