142 rue Mère Yacine #13

Born in Tokyo to a Senegalese family, Mabeye Deme grew up between Dakar and Paris, where he studied film at the Sorbonne Nouvelle. He now lives between Dakar and Grenoble.
Since 2012, his work has taken shape in Dakar and its suburbs, especially in the district of Golf Sud. At the heart of his approach is the relationship between photographer and photographed. In 2014, together with Kader Ndong, he built a mobile fabric studio set up in the street, which became a place for exchange and conversation. There, photographs take shape slowly, far from the idea of “shooting” a picture the way one shoots game: looking together, letting oneself be looked at, making room for the encounter. Taken through fabric, his images give Dakar a soft, pastel, nostalgic quality.
From 2015 to 2022, he roamed the city at night for his series Gudi Dakar (“Dakar at night” in Wolof), in which islands of light reveal everyday gestures in an intimate chiaroscuro. Over the years, he has developed a particular attention to thresholds, those moments when things tip slightly, between presence and disappearance.
His work has resulted in three books: Wallbeuti (2020), 142 rue Mère Yacine (2022) and Gudi Dakar (2025). It has been shown in Senegal, in France and in many other settings, including the Lyon Biennale in 2026.
In Senegal, he leads photography workshops for a wide range of audiences, in schools and universities, and initiates intergenerational encounters in which photography becomes a way of bringing people together.
He is currently working on a new project, En attendant l’oubli, between Mauritania, Senegal and the Mediterranean, exploring shorelines, traces and disappearances.