The fascination for the uniqueness of a territory has always captivated me. Before exploring Paris, my focus was primarily on the landscapes and urban life of Morocco. Leaving my home made me reflect on the value of my work outside of my home country. How could I distinguish myself as an artist by capturing Paris, a city already so extensively photographed?
It is from this reflection that this project was born, stemming from a dialogue between my own perspective in two countries, where I limited myself to using analog photography. This profound reflection on my artistic identity took shape in these two distinct environments. Capturing singular details - plays of light, nature in the heart of the city, striking contrasts - was my way of responding to this quest for authenticity. While exploring Paris, I made sure to remain true to my photographic roots, drawing inspiration from my early works.
Mehdi Ait El Mallali Biography
Mehdi Ait El Mallali, born in 1997 in El Hajeb, is a self-taught artist who lives and works between Paris and Morocco. As a teenager, he began exploring and documenting the topography and morphology of the Atlas territories where he grew up, before expanding his exploration to the rest of Morocco, with his camera always at hand. For him, photography quickly became a vital means of expression, a way to articulate his thoughts. And although the landscapes he captures are generally marked by tranquility, he doesn't shy away from immortalizing his daily life where chaos meets poetry.
After his travels to the remote provinces of Morocco, his work evolved towards more sociological themes such as the human condition and more intimate depictions of his internal states. In his latest projects, he explores his uniqueness as an individual, as well as the influence of leaving his native country and arriving in France on his inner mosaic.
His love for nature, always present in his works and projects, forms the basis of the prism of his visual research. He questions the complexity of representing his emotions and fuels his creative process through his attachment to auteur cinema and the works of his favorite directors.
His work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Galerie 127 in Montreuil, La Maison du Maroc in Paris, the Montélimar Photo Festival, l’Uzine, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Casablanca, and the National Museum of Photography in Rabat, as well as in Essaouira during the Nuits Photos. He also published his first Photo Zine "Blur" in October 2022. In January 2024, he won the first Mustaqbal prize dedicated to photography for his project "In the Realm of Sense.
Website: https://mehdiaitelmallali.com/