Mehdi Ait El Mallali

My first solo exhibition at @montressoartfoundation has come to an end today. I’m so grateful to have presented my project “Blur”, originally released as a photozine, happy that I got the opportunity to show it on a different scale. Thank you to everyone who supported it. The zine is sold out, but a few copies are still available at the foundation. ❤️ Photos credit: @mourad_boulhana Thanks to @yassiraitterga for the beautiful design work.

Installation images from my side of the exhibition « Madda » at @artorium_espacedart [November - December 2024] alongside @ridaseyes and @yassellame . In the Realm of Sense | في‭ ‬نسيج‭ ‬الوجود – 2024 « In the Realm of Sense » is a visual project where I ventured into unfamiliar yet strangely familiar territories. I sought to sense human presence without encountering it, capturing an elusive feeling of absence and mystery, and questioning the balance between the tangible and intangible. This project started from an obsession with light in its different forms, two years ago. I wanted to create a visual story documenting my sensitivities toward the outside world. From my hikes in the mountains, alongside my friend @bratatay , who helped me make the pictures on the ground, the project took form in different places until reaching the valley of Aït Bouguemaz in the High Atlas Mountains. After almost one year of work, I’m extremely happy to share the result, which came to life thanks to the support of @prixmustaqbal and @montressoartfoundation especially our curator Estelle Guillié. I want to thank my dear friend @hajaredberdouz , who wrote the text for the project—this wouldn’t look the same without her poetic contribution. And also to my dear friend @hourbrahimm for his great help throughout the whole project. ♥️ Grateful to everyone who came to see the exhibition and supported our work. 🙏🏼 Mehdi Installation photos by : @artorium_espacedart & @ridaseyes

Update : Sold out ----- Hello everyone ✨ i am pleased to announce that i’ll be launching my photo Zine « Blur » by the 15th of October. It has been a great pleasure working on this project. An experiment to document a bus station through its hazy glass and observing the ever changing light conditions and color ambiances, while a subtle and intimate praise of anonymity is sketched. 250mm x 180mm / 150 editions. I will be publishing more informations in the upcoming days. Introduction book Text written by : @otmansalil translated by @tzeghrita With the great Help of my dear Friend @experimentums and technical help of @njanadesign

In the studio of Maissane @hram3lik_ April 2026

ARTISTES Artiste autodidacte, Mehdi Ait Mellali explore la photographie dans un rapport intuitif à la lumière. Il s’attache aux textures du monde, à la nature dans ce qu’elle a de brut et de changeant. Ses images naissent souvent du hasard, mais ne sont jamais laissées à lui : recadrages, jeux de polarité ou de contraste participent d’une construction attentive. Son travail a notamment été présenté à la Galerie 127, à la Maison du Maroc à Paris, au Festival Photo de Montélimar (France), ainsi qu’au Musée National de la Photographie de Rabat (Maroc). En 2024, il remporte le premier prix Mustaqbal. Ses œuvres font partie de la collection permanente de la Fondation Montresso (Maroc). // A self-taught artist, Mehdi Ait El Mellali explores photography through an intuitive relationship to light. He is drawn to the textures of the world and to nature in its raw, shifting states. His images often emerge from chance, yet are never abandoned to it: reframing, polarity adjustments, and contrasts all contribute to a carefully constructed composition. His work has been shown at Galerie 127, the Maison du Maroc in Paris, the Montélimar Photo Festival (France), and the National Museum of Photography in Rabat (Morocco). In 2024, he was awarded the Mustaqbal First Prize. His works are part of the Montresso Foundation’s permanent collection (Morocco). #arts #artcontemporain #artwork #foundation #montresso

Scenes from Utique - Tunisia (Summer 2025) @tilalutique

PODCAST 🎙️ @meddyait Photographe entre le Maroc et la France, Mehdi Ait El Mallali explore ce qui fait naître le sentiment d’appartenance : une montagne, une lumière, un paysage familier ou un territoire en mutation. Dans cet épisode, il raconte comment ses séries photographiques, du Moyen Atlas aux lacs asséchés, interrogent à la fois le temps, la mémoire et l’idée de « chez soi ». L’épisode aborde son rapport au cinéma d’auteur, aux résidences artistiques au Maroc et en Tunisie, et à la façon dont l’art peut documenter sans prétendre changer le monde, en laissant aux paysages, aux plantes et aux lieux le soin de devenir archive de nos histoires. 📸 @mourad_boulhana & @meddyait _____ 🎧 Les Voix d'Astragale sur toutes les plateformes ⤵️ Lien en bio Sandrine Chamfrault & @chiaragrx & @ainhoavernet

PODCAST 🎙️ @meddyait Né en 1997 à El Hajeb (Maroc). Vit et travaille à Paris (France). Artiste autodidacte, Mehdi Ait Mellali explore la photographie dans un rapport intuitif à la lumière. Il s’attache aux textures du monde, à la nature dans ce qu’elle a de brut et de changeant. Ses images naissent souvent du hasard, mais ne sont jamais laissées à lui : recadrages, jeux de polarité ou de contraste participent d’une construction attentive. L’abstraction y surgit comme une illusion fertile, où la lumière façonne l’espace et influence notre perception. L’artiste dresse ainsi un entre-deux-mondes, un territoire aux contours poreux, incertains, et peut-être plus vrai. Loin d’ancrages géographiques, ses photographies invitent à une expérience sensorielle et méditative, où le regardeur est appelé à ressentir plus qu’à reconnaître. Dans un instant capturé, loin d’être anodin, il y a un lieu du rêve en dehors de nous-mêmes, semble nous murmurer l’artiste. Son travail a notamment été présenté à la Galerie 127, à la Maison du Maroc à Paris, au Festival Photo de Montélimar (France), ainsi qu’au Musée National de la Photographie de Rabat (Maroc). En 2024, il remporte le premier prix Mustaqbal. Ses œuvres font partie de la collection permanente de la Fondation Montresso (Maroc). 📸 @mourad_boulhana & @meddyait _____ 🎧 Les Voix d'Astragale sur toutes les plateformes ⤵️ Lien en bio Sandrine Chamfrault & @chiaragrx & @ainhoavernet

2025 & 2019 El Hajeb, Morocco

"Soft Weight" - Tunisia 2025 -A project around the fragile architectures we build to protect what grows, the tensions and ruptures that shape these temporary shelters, and the quiet gestures of care that leave traces in the material.- Selection from my visual project done during my residency last summer in @tilalutique

Stills from a video shot during a 4 days hike in the french alps - May 2025 ⛰️ With @bratatay & @ibtissamhk

#TheWatchlist Meet Mehdi Ait El Mallali (@meddyait ), a self-taught Moroccan photographer based in Paris. Emerging from the meditative cartography of the Atlas Mountains, his practice now veers toward introspective and socio-spatial inquiry. Informed by a cinematic gaze and an ethics of observation, his work privileges stillness and attunement, where light functions as both emotive register and conceptual filament. Engage with his practice in full and explore his profile on brosco88.com. ↘ Browse The Watchlist — link in bio.