"Drawing on the modern art styles he encounters during this time, his paintings incorporate elements of stylized regional calligraphy and Africo-Islamic architecture."
Born in the Tunis medina to a Tunisian father and Dutch mother, Belkhodja studied at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis and started exhibiting in 1956, at the age of 23. Upon being awarded the Tunis Municipal Prize at the Salon International that year, Belkhodja travels to Paris, where he takes part in the Biennale in 1965, 1967 and 1969. While in Paris, He receives the National Award for painting in 1968 during a residency at the international City of the Arts. Drawing on the modern art styles he encounters during this time, his paintings incorporate elements of stylized regional calligraphy and Africo-Islamic architecture. Using new styles of painting, Belkhodja has captured Architectural forms of Medina, Maintaining Tunisia’s Distinctive character. Having been surrounded by North Africa’s most famous medina from childhood, The Medina of Tunis, Belkhodja’s intimate knowledge of its urban landscape renders in chromatic spatial associations, not always a success but triumphant, as the perceived rigor that he has labored into each painting brings upon exciting results.
Belkhodja’s work has been presented in numerous exhibitions worldwide, hailed for his creation of the “African Medina” Arts movement in Tunisia. Also having been a key figure in significant artist groups ( Group of Six, New Tendencies, amongst others) Belkhodjas involvement in the arts expanded into its socio-cultural dimensions. Exhibiting in Tunisia, the United Kingdom, France, Egypt, Morocco, Germany and the United States, Belkhodja became known for his research within the realm of painting pedagogy. In 1991, he held an exhibition in Tunis with the Iraqi painter Dia Azzawi.