Zineb Koutten was born in Morocco in 2001. She’s always had a passion for the arts as well as expressing herself and this resulted in her painting, writing, acting, and singing. Later, she embarked on a new chapter by launching her YouTube channel, where she shared the intricacies of her life.
Now a rising fashion photographer, creative director, and videographer, her work includes a recent project she shot in Paris, France and exhibited in Casablanca, Morocco entitled Paris Through Their Lens. This project highlights 20 hijab-wearing women and their experiences living in France. As a veiled Moroccan woman, Koutten is aware that she represents a group of people who are often overlooked or stereotyped, and her work seeks to challenge these prejudices.
As an artist, Koutten also gets to travel through her work. Coming from an Arab nation, traveling to fellow Arab nations such as Egypt changed the way she sees her work. Through its creative scene, Egypt inspires Koutten’s work so much. Koutten’s recent projects include WLAD CHA3b (“People of the country”) where she celebrates the working class as society’s cornerstone. For this project, Koutten photographed people in the medina of Casablanca while they are working their various jobs.
For Koutten, success is following her passion and dreams, never stopping, and always being happy with her family and her religion. Her passions also landed her a campaign with Converse the shoe wear. Alongside fellow artists such as Tyler, The Creator, and Zion Effs, Koutten got to be a part of a campaign that released the Converse CONs collection as part of the mission to help skaters skate more comfortably. She also believes that her work is made easy by Morocco’s artistic scene which is one of the best scenes in the world. Her dreams for photography are that perfectionism get replaced by realism. She hopes her work reflects her values and that it inspires others to put their own values into their own work.
