Born and raised in Abidjan in a large Akan Agni-bona and Malinké family, Nuits Balnéaires is an ivorian multidisciplinary visual artist, art director and poet based in Grand-Bassam. He has always been fascinated by the energy emanating from the waters of the Gulf of Guinea. The history of the civilizations that populate this coastline serves as a compass to understand and capture its energy. Over the years, his works on the cultures and social structure of the N'zima people of Grand-Bassam have opened him to a new perspective of the collective imaginary of Côte d'Ivoire. His latest series “The Power of Alliances” which earned him a full spread in The Guardian is the outcome of a one-year visual journalism fellowship with the World Press Photo Foundation and Chocolonely Foundation. The proximity that Grand-Bassam offers to the communities of artisans has provided him with a perfect setting to multiply experiments and expand his rhizomatic practice. 

Nuits Balnéaires’s work has been exhibited at ArtXLagos, at 1-54 Contemporary art fair in Paris Christie’s, FNB Art Johannesburg, and in multiple exhibitions in Côte d’Ivoire, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, and Australia.

In 2020, he was one of the laureates of the Cultural and Environmental responses for environmental change initiated by the Prince Claus Fund and the Goethe Institute, for his soon-to-be-released experimental feature film and collection of texts “Death is the space that nature needs to be alive.” 

He has worked on numerous campaigns, artworks commissions, and established collaborations with International Finance Corporation, Accor Hotels, Ethical Fashion Initiative, Universal Music, Tony’s Chocolonely, VISA, Birimian Ventures, Gallery Cécile Fakhoury, Lagos Fashion Week, Loza Maléombho, Iamisigo, This Is Us, Ohiri, Uni Form, Olooh, amongst others.

His photographs and films have been featured in Ocula, New York Times, Quartz, Vogue, i-D, The Guardian, ELLE, Nataal, BubblegumClub, GIDA Journal, Dry, OkayAfrica, Swinging Africa, Contemporary And, REPUBLIK, Le Temps.

In May 2022, Nuits Balnéaires gave his first lecture at the Geneva University of Art and Design. In November 2022, he was celebrated in NATIVE & GUAP MAG list of the 12 West African talents “shaking up their industries”.

Direct all enquires to the following; mail@nuitsbalneaires.com