Born in Marrakesh, Farid Belkahia studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and later in Prague. He returned to Morocco to serve as the director of the School of Fine Arts of Casablanca from 1962 to 1974, where he played a pivotal role in the Casablanca school modernist movement, which sought to integrate local heritage with contemporary artistic practices.

Belkahia moved away from traditional easel painting to work primarily with copper, leather, and natural dyes. His practice often incorporated geometric forms and symbols derived from Moroccan culture, reflecting a synthesis of indigenous craft traditions and modernist abstraction.