Miami

In 2017, I was invited to a curated exhibition during the Miami Art Fair. However, there was a misunderstanding that was only clarified later. The previous summer, I had exhibited and painted extensively on the streets of Dakar, Senegal. I had been posting about it on social media, and one day Mikhaele Salomon contacted me, inviting me to participate in a group exhibition in Miami. We communicated regularly to sort out the formalities and determine which works to exhibit. A month before the trip, Michaele suggested we have a video call to get to know each other personally. During the call, the misunderstanding was cleared up. Michaele had curated an exhibition exclusively featuring artists of African descent. When she saw me, she seemed somewhat surprised and asked, "Are you this, Olivier?" As we talked, I understood what had happened. Instead of rescinding the invitation, we stuck to our agreements, and she decided to tell the story about it. Thus, I became the first European to participate in an exhibition alongside artists of African descent. For the motif, we had selected a large-scale artwork depicting immigrants arriving on Ellis Island by boat. Overall, I spent a month in Miami and also created three videos there,