Mehdi Melhaoui is a Franco-German-Moroccan artist. He began his career at an early age, participating in group exhibitions in Morocco, Algeria, Germany, and France from 2003. As a multidisciplinary artist, Melhaoui produces sculptures in bronze, steel, stainless steel, composite materials, and stone. Customarily working with carving techniques, his talents also extend to carpentry and cabinetmaking. 2007 marked the beginning of a series of public commissions and awards in due recognition of his work, including the MAIF Prize for Sculpture in 2010 for his installation entitled Objet Trouvé (found object).

Melhaoui’s point of convergence revolves around migration in the Mediterranean, an ongoing enquiry that was the thematic of his first solo exhibition at GVCC in 2014, entitled Time running out. As an emigrant, he counts himself as one of those who have entered exile, in all of its uncertainty. Having encountered the process of exile experientially and from afar, Melhaoui holds a sensitivity toward the concept, which makes for an insightful and critical investigation.