Last year, amid the heartbreaking earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, Anuar Khalifi, a talented Moroccan-Spanish artist, and Les Benjamins, a cult Istanbul-based fashion label, teamed up to help out. Their partnership was all about lending a hand through their creative skills, and guess what? They’re at it again with a brand new collection.
It all began with hip hop legend Yasiin Bey (known as Mos Def to old heads) who introduced Khalifi to Bunyamin Aydin, the founder of Les Benjamins. “We connected very quickly, and Bunyamin proposed the collaboration, and here we are a year later,” shares Khalifi. The duo hit it off and decided to channel their creative energies into something meaningful to support the relief efforts. Fast forward a year, and they’re not just one-time collaborators but creative buddies who keep finding new ways to blend art with fashion.
Born in 1977 in Lloret de Mar, Spain, but with his heart split between Barcelona and Tangier, Khalifi is not just any artist. A multihyphenate in every sense of the word, he paints, he DJs, and he ran his own clothing stores for 15-years. He’s passionate about perfumes too—maybe that’s a hint of something more to come? “I always present myself exclusively as a painter. DJing, it is something that I had been doing professionally before even legally having access to a club. As for fashion, I think it is something flows is my organically, given my personal trajectory,” he shares.
His art’s got layers—literally. It’s vibrant, it’s meaningful, and it digs deep into themes like identity and culture, catching international attention and gracing galleries from Sharjah to Hamburg.
As two immigrant kids who found their voices in Europe and used them to bridge their worlds, the collaboration between Khalifi and Aydin just makes sense. Much like the Moroccan artist, the Les Benjamins founder knows a thing or two about juggling cultures, growing up between Germany and Turkey. His brand is all about making streetwear that’s not just cool but also has something to say about our histories and identities.
This new drop is everything you’d hope for and more. Khalifi’s childhood trips between Barcelona and Tangier play out in designs that speak to both the heart and the spirit of those places. Think bold colors, edgy graphics, and pieces that tell stories of bridges between cultures.
The creative’s artistic touch is all over this collection. Iconography plays a pivotal role, with T-shirts, track suits, baseball caps, totes, and scarves superimposed with illustrations from Khalifi’s youth, imbued with humor and irony, and colors and shapes that reflect his unique artistic lens. One standout element in the collection is the W.A.Y.F (Where Are You From) motif, a graphic that the artist uses as a poignant response to the often uncomfortable question about one’s origins. This signature image serves not only as a statement piece but also as a conversation starter, embodying the collection’s theme of exploring identity and belonging. “Bunyamin deconstructed some of these elements, giving them a fresh interpretation,” the artist explains.
Below, we caught up with the artist to discover more about the profound influence of his bicultural upbringing and the personal stories behind the standout pieces in this collaboration, which hits shelves today.
Tell us about your personal experience growing up between Barcelona and Tangier. How did this shape the designs in the collection?
“I think I live in a space between two places -both on physical and on spiritual level- given the history of the Iberian peninsula and the north of Africa, their proximity, and the many times that I have travelled to the south, especially as a child by car.
These experiences have created a feeling of living on an inter-zone. I don’t like the term bridge or creating bridges. Tangier is one of the doors to the African continent, we could consider it arguable the entrance to the south. When you are in Tangier, you see Spain with the naked eye. Both places are like mirrors.
This continuous journey and reflection, has left an imprint on my work, and consequently in the designs, visible both in their form and storytelling. You can also notice other influences that Bunyamin and I share, like the French hip hop style from the 90s, images from Morocco, the immigration diaspora, and the style of Rakim in the 90s.”
Can you elaborate on some of the motifs and iconography used throughout the collection?
“There are three parts. The first, parts derived from the content of my work, as subject matter. The second, the color and the shape of clothes that my characters wear. And the third, a series of drawings made in a younger age, with the humour and irony of that time.
All of this was part of the conversation with Bunyamin, and I sent him all my work. A dialogue began, and in some cases, he deconstructed things, giving his own interpretation. There are garments to which he gave a remix treatment, in the graphic sense, that I thought were amazing.”
Do you have a favorite piece from this collab?
“The jumpsuit and the tracksuit. The two garments complement each other in my personal life, and in a way they represent for me the concept of the hero/antihero. The jumpsuit is something that I am going to wear as much as I can while painting, and the tracksuit is the easiest thing to put on when I want to have a break and go to the outside world.”
What is your response to the (uncomfortable) ‘where are you from’ question?
“The W.A.Y.F drawing is my answer! I think the answer depends on who asks. All questions can be uncomfortable, but it depends on where they come from, and particularly with this question, your place in existence does have a bearing. Charlie Brown said, ‘It’s important to leave people more confused than how you found them.’ How great will be a conversation about this subject between Nasruddin and Charlie Brown!”
What first drew you to painting as a medium?
“I have drawn all my life. The first memory I have of drawing is of my mother teaching me how to draw a face while sitting on her lap. Painting has several limitations. For example it is only two-dimensional and it only involves one sense, sighting. But it hides infinite secrets. At the same time, because of these limitations, it is difficult to get bored, since you will never discover all its secrets. It is an exercise of permanent decision-making and reflection. It has technical factors that you do not quite control, which during the creative process can produce magical moments.”
How do you envision your art contributing to a broader understanding and appreciation of Arab and Muslim culture?
“I think that I am not the one who can say that or what I contribute. In that aspect, the people and the institutions decide if your work represents them. There almost an archaeological side the references that I use, a constant search for symbols and places that reflect myself and that may be common to both my region and the global south, or even places that have nothing to do with physical geography. I call them places of existence.
I am a painter who happens to be Moroccan, African, Arab and Muslim. That informs my work. In this recurring coming and going, I decided that my work belonged to the south, which is why I always presented myself as a Moroccan painter.”
How does your art question or challenge traditional notions of Arab identity and beauty?
“The idea is not to challenge, it is to reveal, this is the ‘archaeology’ that I am talking about. These are not buried things, they are only veiled, but in front of us; in our books, in our traditions and in our homes. In many cases, we live with them without realizing it.
We have access to it, sometimes in a subtle way, like drawing a thin veil, and other times by demolishing falsely constructed narratives that sometimes we have ended up accepting unconsciously and collectively.
Plato said, ‘Beauty is the splendor of truth.’ I do not believe that beauty is particular to a territory or identity but rather a universal language. In our tradition people are committed to beauty, creating it, nurturing it and finally becoming it.”
When did you feel like your art was really making an impact for the first time?
“I am not sure. Perhaps it was when my first small exhibition in Tangier was sold out before the opening. I really needed that type of response, I had too many doubts. Months before I had an existential ‘all in’ to a painter. Until that moment, painting was just complementary to the rest of my activities.”
What is one painting or artwork that really stuck with you?
“‘The 2nd of May’ by Goya, also known as ‘The battle of the Mamelukes,’ lives rent-free in my mind. This is one of the few paintings at El Prado Museum that depicts characters that look like Muslims, and they are being cut to pieces. I just made a huge painting, and I realized at the end of it, how much influence I got from that painting. It was not a coincidence at all, and is not obvious, but it is there nonetheless.”
Are there any emerging artists that you admire or who inspire you?
“Hend Samir. She is an Egyptian artist that I discovered online. I never had the chance to see one of her works live or have much information, but what I saw looks absolutely incredible.”
From Mille World website
