M’hammed Kilito

Hooked to Paradise

Located in arid and semi-arid regions and considered an ecological bulwark against desertification and an important refuge for biodiversity, oases constitute an original ecosystem based on the right balance of three elements - the abundance of water, the quality of the soil and the presence of date palms. The date palms with their parasol-shaped foliage create a natural humid microclimate, shaded from the wind and favourable to the development of plants. For the past twenty years, this balance no longer exists. These islands of greenery in the middle of the desert are suffering the impacts of destructive human activities and climate change. Indeed, according to official statistics from the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, Morocco has already lost two-thirds of its 14 million palm trees over the last century.

In 2019, Greenpeace warned of the threat of extinction facing oases due to the considerable impact of high temperatures on their water resources, resulting in a decrease in agricultural and livestock activities and the displacement of indigenous populations. According to the organisation, the frequency of droughts has increased over the past twenty to forty years in Morocco from once every five years to once every ten years.

'Hooked to Paradise' is an ongoing, long-term, multidisciplinary art project highlighting the complex and multidimensional issues of oasis degradation in Morocco and its impact on its inhabitants.

“Over the past few years, I have visited many oases, where I have made strong connections with its inhabitants. I was able to understand this rich environment but also its glaring realities. I realised that desertification, recurrent droughts and fires, changes in agricultural practices, overexploitation of natural resources, rural exodus and the sharp drop in the water table are all imminent threats to the existence of oases.

I decided to work on this project to highlight these multiple concerns rarely covered by the media and largely unknown to the general public. The main objective is to draw attention to this situation by alerting public opinion, policymakers and concerned organisation through this project. It is also to protect the ancestral intangible heritage of the nomadic culture in Morocco, as well as the preservation of the oasis ecosystem.”

M’hammed Kilito focuses on capturing narratives that help understand the relationship between groups or individuals and their environments by covering issues related to cultural identity, the sociology of work, and climate change.

In 2021, Kilito joined the VII Mentor Program. He was also selected by Ateliers Medicis and the Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap) to take part in the French national photographic commission ‘Regards du Grand Paris’ and was designated as the North African regional coordinator for the 2022 World Press Photo contest.

In 2020, Kilito was selected by the British Journal of Photography as one of the 18 best emerging photographers from across the globe to watch; was the winner of 6×6 Global Talent by World Press Photo; became a National Geographic Explorer; received The Photography Prize of the Fondation des Treilles and won CAP Prize, the Prize for The Contemporary African Photography. In the same year, he co-founded KOZ, a collective of four Moroccan visual artists working on long-term projects and sharing a passion for storytelling.

He is an alumnus of the 2019 edition of the Eddie Adams Workshop in New York where he earned a National Geographic Award. In 2018, Kilito was part of the Arab Documentary Photography Program, a joint program by Magnum Foundation, Arab Fund for Art and Culture (AFAC), and Prince Claus Fund during which he worked on his ongoing project - ‘Portrait of a generation questioning the realities of Moroccan youth’. In 2016, he received a grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Morocco and started photographing the series ‘Destiny about the relationship between work and social determinism’ which was exhibited at PhotoESPAÑA Festival (Madrid), the French Institute (Rabat), Addis Foto Festival (Addis Ababa), Revela'T Festival (Barcelona) and The Africa Institute (Sharjah).

His work has been shown at festivals and venues including Sharjah Art Foundation (Sharjah), 1:54 Art Fair (Paris), Tate Modern (London), National Museum of Photography (Rabat), Beirut Image Festival (Beirut), Photo Vogue Festival (Milan), Helsinki Photo Festival (Helsinki) and Breda Photo Festival (Breda), amidst others. His photographs have been featured in magazines and newspapers such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The British Journal of Photography, Vogue Italia, L'Express, VICE Arabia and El Pais.

M'hammed holds a Master of Arts in Political Science from Ottawa University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Montreal.