Are You Still Awake?

Are You Still Awake? began as an attempt to discover a side of the city that had remained unfamiliar.

Growing up in a conservative household, nightlife was never part of Mehdi's experience. Walking through Brussels after dark became a way of entering a world he had observed from a distance but never truly known.

The project was photographed over several years through long walks without a destination. Rather than documenting nightlife itself, the photographs explore how darkness changes the experience of public space. Familiar streets take on a different character, and people occupy them differently than they do during the day.

Like every chapter within Beyond the Familiar, Are You Still Awake? is driven by exploration. The night simply became another way of discovering a place that, despite having lived there all his life, still had much to reveal.