M'hammed Kilito

M'hammed Kilito / Contributing photographer to The VII Foundation

Mohammed Elfakhar (38), a potter, collects wood at the Skoura Oasis, in central Morocco, on 24 April 2022. He does this every Sunday, when he fires the pottery he has made during the week in a kiln. It takes him the whole morning, from 6am to noon, to collect enough to fuel the kiln.

M'hammed Kilito is a photographer and National Geographic Explorer based in Marrakech. He is a contributing photographer to The VII Foundation and is represented internationally by Gowen Gallery. 

His practice explores the complex relationships individuals and communities build with their environments, whether rooted in places of belonging, shaped by memory, or defined by movement and transition. Through his work, Kilito examines narratives that shed light on cultural identity, labor, and the pressing realities of climate change, creating bodies of work that resonate across local and global contexts.

Kilito holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Montreal and a Master’s degree in Political Science from Ottawa University. His photography has been recognized with numerous awards and grants from institutions such as World Press Photo, the National Geographic Society, the Magnum Foundation, and the Prince Claus Fund. His work has appeared in major international outlets including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, National Geographic Magazine, and The British Journal of Photography, and has been exhibited widely around the world.

He is also the co-founder of KOZ, a collective established with three other Moroccan visual artists, dedicated to developing long-term, in-depth storytelling projects.