Three years ago, photographer M’Hammed Kilito travelled to Merzouga in eastern Morocco hoping to capture ancient wall markings showing the camel route to Timbuktu. But when he arrived, the markings had vanished. Faced with this absence, he sought a new story—something unplanned.
His guide that day, Mustapha, first took him along typical tourist trails, which did not interest Kilito. Then they explored the sand dunes, where they came across an old well. As Kilito set up his 1972 Hasselblad 500, Mustapha stepped forward and instinctively leaned in to look inside. “I hadn’t imagined him in the picture but he didn’t pay attention to me,” Kilito recalls. “That spontaneous gesture—part ritual, part desperation—transformed the scene completely. It felt sacred, as though he were praying for the return of something essential: water.”
The unplanned moment encapsulates Kilito’s wider project, Before It’s Gone, which documents the fragility of oasis ecosystems, human struggle for survival, and quiet persistence of memory amid environmental loss. He began the project in 2018, noticing rising temperatures, shrinking water sources, abandoned palm groves and increasing rural exodus across Morocco. “What was once a source of life and resilience for entire communities was slowly being erased,” he says.
The project has since expanded to Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania. Kilito believes these are not just local stories but global warnings. “The climate crisis is often framed in abstract or future terms. Through this work, I want to make it visible, human and grounded in the present.”
Kilito hopes the image evokes empathy and awareness. “Water scarcity is no longer just an environmental issue. It’s a humanitarian crisis. Communities are being forced to leave the only homes they’ve ever known, not because of war but because the water is disappearing.” The photograph is now featured as a poster in London underground stations, advertising the Wellcome Trust exhibition Thirst.
