Mehdi Ben Temessek
Places in the In-Between

Mehdi Ben Temessek (*1994) as an architect in the making, photographer, poet with Tunisian and Mediterranean ties, would rather qualify himself as a tweaker of lines, rhymes and images, between digital verse and analog prose. Weaving in a state of wanderlust around the world and the worlds of art with some recently awarded works, he remains nonetheless in the footsteps of a certain “Petit Prince” questing and questioning: the otherness of proximity, the places and the links of belonging, the languages of use, the unsuspected dualities, the silence… and all these Unidentified Volatile Obsessions, all these latent UFOs attract his daily graphic movements.

Thresholds of Intimacy (2024)

Shot around the arched Sabbat in the Medina of Tunis, this series captures subtle shifts between public space and private presence. Through contrasts of light and architecture, the artist explores how urban forms shape our sense of proximity, intimacy, and retreat.

Genius Loci (2024) | Colour analog photography (35mm Kodak Ultra Max 200, Zenith 11) on Fine Art Paper 310g

Named after the spirit of place, Genius Loci invokes the layered histories of Carthage. Referencing Flaubert’s Salammbô, the series intertwines myth and memory, offering a textured portrait of place as both real and imagined.

Insularities (2024) | Colour analog photography (35mm Kodak Ultra Max 200, Zenith 11) on Fine Art Paper 310g

Insularities reflects on isolation within the collective landscape. Through quiet, sun-drenched frames, the work hints at emotional and spatial fragmentation—places where disconnection becomes a form of quiet resistance or introspection.

Grand Livre de mon Monde (2021) | Visual poetry booklet & hanging parchment

A personal archive of memory and movement, this piece weaves poetry and photography into a tactile, book-like form. Its translucent layers echo the ephemeral nature of belonging, grounding the universal in the deeply intimate.

Images Courtesy of Mehdi Ben Temessek