Dakar: The Galerie Le Manège at the French Institute of Senegal invites you to the opening of Jean-Michel André’s exhibition “Chambre 207” this Friday, September 25

In a hotel in Avignon, seven people were murdered on the night of October 5, 1983. The case was never truly solved. Thirty years later, French photographer Jean-Michel André—who was 7 years old at the time of the events—picks up his camera to follow in the footsteps of his father, who tragically died that night. This is the narrative behind the solo exhibition “Chambre 207,” presented from Friday, September 25, through Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the Galerie Le Manège of the Institut Français du Sénégal in Dakar, in collaboration with the Institut de la Photographie de la Région Hauts-de-France.

Brilliantly conceived by the Senegalese curator and cultural engineer Mohamed Amine Cissé, “Chambre 207” depicts the events leading up to and following that night in the eponymous room, though not through a literal reconstruction.

Rather, to shed light on this quest for truth—and quite simply to move beyond this trauma— Jean-Michel André (born in 1976 and a graduate in photography from the École des Gobelins) traveled to Avignon, to the scene of the tragedy, to the Arles region, where one of the defendants was found, and to Corsica, the vacation destination for the summer of 1983. He also traveled to Germany, where his father worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and to Senegal, where he spent his early childhood with his parents.

Blending photographs, investigative material, press archives, and family mementos, the artist has created a collection that explores memory, mourning, and healing. However, the limitations of the image are particularly relevant here: what can be shown, how, why, and for whom? How can abstract concepts be made tangible and the personal be shared to touch upon a form of the universal?

Discover the answers—free of charge and open to all—at a preview this Friday, September 25, starting at 5:30 p.m. at Galerie Le Manège, located at 3 rue Parchappe in Dakar, with the artist and the curator in attendance.

For more information, visit: https://ifs.sn or institut-photo.com