Following its first call for applications, MACAAL Residence hosted Moroccan photographer M’hammed Kilito from September 2 to October 31, 2019.

M’hammed Kilito is interested in the small details of the everyday life that document the actual Morocco. Through his work, he explores, questions and tries to understand the societal transformations taking place in his country. His photographs, often scenes and fragments of the everyday life, highlight in a sensitive and critical way deep divisions on subjects such as social cleavages, heritage, migration, identity and social determinist. His approach testifies to the photographer’s humanistic view of the reality that surrounds him. His latest ongoing series, Portrait of a Generation, questions the different realities of Moroccan youth.

During his residency at MACAAL, M’hammed Kilito focused on the situation of young people in rural areas. His photographs sketch the portrait of disoriented and disoriented Moroccans. Cut off from the rest of the world, they are in a precarious position, affected by higher unemployment rates than their urban compatriots, inadequate – if any – training opportunities and a lack of promising opportunities.

Who are they? How are they living it? What are their frustrations? What are they dreaming of? These are the four essential questions to which the photographer has set the objective of answering through a photographic wandering in the countryside and villages of Morocco.

Born in Lvov, Ukraine, M’hammed Kilito grew up in Rabat and moved to Canada in 2001 where he studied political science at the University of Ottawa and photography at the Ottawa School of Art. Researcher at the Social Planning Council of Ottawa and then head of the video department at the Montreal advertising agency Ressac, he decided to move to Morocco in 2015 to focus on photography.

His work has been presented in galleries, museums and festivals such as Sharjah Art Foundation (Sharjah), Amman Image Festival (Amman), Tate Modern (London), Addis Foto Fest (Addis Ababa), PHotoESPAÑA (Madrid), Biennale internationale de Casablanca (Casablanca), Rétine Argentique (Marseille), Fotofilmic Gallery (Vancouver) and Beirut Image Festival (Beirut). His photographs have been published in several newspapers and magazines, as The Washington Post, El Pais, Off the Wall, Jeune Afrique, Afrique Magazine, Diptyk, L’Express and TelQuel. He is a member of the African Photojournalism Database – a project of the World Press Photo Foundation and Everyday Africa.

M’hammed Kilito is currently living in Marrakech.

To finish his residency, the photographer opens the doors of his studio to the public on Thursday 31 October from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to present his artistic practice and his current project, Portrait of a Generation.

A discussion about the different models of artistic residencies between M’hammed Kilito, Mouna Saboni (artist), Janine Dieudji (MACAAL Exhibition Director) and Estelle Guilié (Artistic Director, Le Jardin Rouge) will also take place on Saturday 9 November at 4 p.m.