(b. in 1997) Mehdi Ait El Mallali is a self-taught artist based in Paris, exploring and documenting the topography and morphology of the Atlas Mountains, where he grew up, during his teenage years. He then expanded his exploration to other regions, always with his camera close at hand. For Mehdi, photography is a quest, a manifesto driven by the freedom to create. While freed from the constraints of classical representations and narrative rules, he nonetheless tells a story, a different way of seeing the world. Photography, to him, is a vital means of expression, a way to articulate his thoughts. After traveling through remote provinces of Morocco, his work shifted towards more sociological and intimate themes. His love of cinema is evident in how he explores the aesthetic dimensions of the medium. Here, the material is poeticized; it becomes the light of the imagination. His work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, notably at Galerie 127, the Maison du Maroc in Paris, the Montélimar Photo Festival, L’Uzine, the École Beaux-Arts in Casablanca, as well as the National Photography Museum in Rabat, and during the Nuits Photos in Essaouira. In 2024, he won the first prize in the 3rd Edition of the Mustaqbal Prize and was awarded a residency and a solo exhibition at the Montresso Art Foundation in Marrakech.