Congratulations to Ibrahim Meïté Sikely, who graduated with honours from Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2025 future resident at Villa Medici for 2026–2027, alongside Neïla Czermak Ichti.
“During this residency, we hope to develop and establish a shared visual practice. For several years now, we have been nurturing the idea of creating an illustrated book, conceived, painted and written by us.”
The sixteen residents of the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, representing nine artistic disciplines and six different nationalities, will be welcomed from September 2026 for a one-year residency dedicated to creation, experimentation and research, and will receive a residency grant, accommodation and a workspace.
Born in 1996, Ibrahim Meïté Sikely lives and works in Champigny-sur-Marne and Paris.
He obtained his DNSEP at Villa Arson in Nice in 2022 and is due to graduate from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 2025. He has recently completed a university exchange programme at K-Arts in Seoul, South Korea.
He has recently taken part in several exhibitions at the CAC Brétigny, the FRAC Ile-de-France, the FRAC Lorraine in Metz, the FRAC Pays-de-Loire in Nantes, Villa Arson in Nice, 100% L’EXPO at La Villette in Paris, as well as at the Cajarc Contemporary Art Centre and Les Tanneries in Amilly. He took part in the exhibition “Après l’éclipse” at the Magasins Généraux in Pantin and participated in the Salon de Montrouge in 2023. Mohamed Bourouissa presented one of his paintings in his exhibition “Signal” at the Palais de Tokyo in 2024.
Ibrahim Meïté Sikely will present his first solo exhibition at the Anne Barrault Gallery in September 2025.
Deeply influenced by his surroundings and history, Ibrahim Meïté Sikely’s work blends the visual languages of classical art-historical iconography, comics, manga and video games. Employing a colourful and shimmering style, scenes of tranquillity alternate with epic scenes whose fantastical and dreamlike world evokes both the works of Goya and their sharp social critique, as well as the poetry of the narratives of marginalised communities described by Martin Wong. Through portraiture and allegory, his paintings address themes of struggle and justice, trauma and healing.
Neïla Czermak Ichti was born in Bondy in 1996; she lives and works in Marseille.
Her work straddles the line between fiction and personal narrative. Her depictions of scenes that appear everyday and mundane take on hidden, magical and invisible dimensions.
In her drawings and paintings, she depicts those who accompany her through life, whether they be family by choice or by blood, friends, or creatures drawn from ancestral beliefs, horror films and fantasy. In her works, the monsters and hybrid beings that populate her universe act as protective figures, symbols of transitions and of the unsaid. Neïla explores inner journeys, solitude, and stories and traumas passed down from generation to generation.
A 2021 graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, her works have been exhibited at the Villa Arson in Nice, the MO.CO in Montpellier, the CAC Brétigny, and in the exhibition "Désolé" at the Galerie Edouard Manet in Gennevilliers, curated by Mohamed Bourouissa. At the invitation of Anna Labouze and Keimis Henni, Neïla Czermak Ichti took part in the exhibition "Après l'éclipse" at the Magasins Généraux in Pantin, and presented a joint exhibition with the artist Baya at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nîmes in 2024 as part of the Triennale La Contemporaine.
In the same year, her works were shown at the Arab World Institute in Paris in “AraboFuturs, Science Fiction and New Imaginaries”. Her work is currently on display at the MAC VAL and the Centre Pompidou Metz. She is currently preparing a solo exhibition to be presented at the Palais de Tokyo from June 2026.
Photo credits : Ibrahim Meïté Sikely © Manuela Obadia-Wills / Neïla Czermak Ichti © Elise Ortiou Campion
