Mohamed Babahoum was born in a village some thirty kilometers from Essaouira, in the heart of an argan tree landscape. After working in agriculture, he settled on the outskirts of the city, where he successively worked as a scrap metal dealer, an antiques trader, and later the operator of an olive press powered by a dromedary.
He discovered drawing relatively late in life. His earliest works, discreetly executed in ballpoint pen on the reverse side of salvaged paper, were initially presented at the local souk as the work of his nephew. He eventually acknowledged them as his own and continued a practice that gradually became an essential part of his life.
Later created in black felt-tip pen and gouache on discarded cardboard packaging, his compositions reveal a world shaped by rural life and the landscapes of southern Morocco. Donkeys, oases, palm trees, souks, fortified walls, goats perched in trees, and elderly figures raising their walking sticks toward the sky form a visual vocabulary that is at once familiar and deeply distinctive.
Hospitalized in 2014 following pneumonia, Mohamed Babahoum permanently lost the use of speech. He now lives with his son and, despite advancing age and illness, continues to draw and paint every day.