Algerian visual artist Lazhar Hakkar passes away

Algerian visual Lazhar Hakkar died Thursday evening at age of 68, said Friday President of the National Union of Arts Abdelhamid Laârousi. The deceased will be buried Friday afternoon in the cemetery of Sidi Yahia (Algiers). Born on December 13, 1945 in Khenchla (east of Algiers), Lazhar Hakkar has exhibited in Algeria and abroad since 1972. Before devoting himself entirely to painting, he worked, since 1975, as head of the creation department of a public fabric company. A major retrospective exhibition, bringing together nearly 300 works of him, was organized in November 2012 at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Algiers (MaMa). Minister of Culture pays tribute to richness of late Lazhar Hakkar works ALGIERS -Minister of Culture Khalida Toumi praised the artistic qualities of Algerian artist Lazhar Hakkar, died Thursday in Algiers at the age of 68, paying tribute to the richness of his works inspired by beauty of the Aures region where he was born. In a condolence message, Toumi expressed her "deep sorrow" at the loss of a "great figure of Algerian art" who had during all his life "paid the greatest tribute" to the "beauty" of his hometown and the "courage" and "suffering" of its inhabitants during the National War of Liberation. The Minister also paid tribute to the work of Lazhar Hakkar who combined "control", "ancestral heritage and quest of memory" enriched over the various trips of the deceased while maintaining his "visceral connection" to the land.