Hélène
Jayet

Hélène Jayet develops an artistic practice grounded in time, duration, listening and immersion. Through photography, writing, drawing and sound collecting, she builds sensitive archives of territories, communities and narratives in transformation. Her work unfolds over the long term, through research in which each encounter feeds a constantly evolving body of work.

Her main bodies of work, Chin Up!, devoted to representations of people of African descent, Adoptés: the origin of the story, and her long-term research on the Château d'Eau neighbourhood in Paris, question the links between memory, identity, transmission and social change. Developed for more than fifteen years, Chin Up! brings together a major body of portraits made in France, the Netherlands and Brazil. Shown in numerous exhibitions, biennials and festivals, the project has also unfolded in public space through urban pasteups, notably in Saint-Louis, Senegal.

Her work has been shown in France and internationally, notably at the Rencontres de Bamako (2026), the Dakar Biennale, MACAAL (Morocco), the Fondation Zinsou (Benin), in the Republic of the Congo, Brazil, French Guiana and the Netherlands, as well as at several French festivals and institutions. Laureate of the apexart Fellowship (New York) and a graduate of the École supérieure des beaux-arts de Montpellier, Hélène Jayet is currently working on a publishing project with The Eyes Publishing and preparing a solo exhibition devoted to her work.

Laureate of the Les Filles de la photo mentorship in 2025 and of the apexart Fellowship in 2027 (New York), she has been selected for the Rencontres de Bamako 2026 and is preparing her next residency in Togo for spring 2027.