This Tuesday, July 25, the opening of the exhibition “As a Child, I Dreamed of Africa” by Corine Dechauffour took place at the Louis Nucéra Library in Nice. The installation, visible until September 24, pays tribute to the painter and her daughter Anne, victims of the 2013 attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Present were Michel Dechauffour, husband of Corine and father of Anne Dechauffour, as well as the mayor Christian Estrosi and Jean-Luc Gagliolo, municipal councilor.
Emotion, but also gratitude. This is what Michel Dechauffour felt in front of the crowd that came to this exhibition, finally completed. Together with the city’s mayor, they had been working since 2013 on this tribute in memory of his wife and daughter. Corine, being passionate about Africa, led the family to travel there often. They even went so far as to live in the heart of the Meru National Park in Kenya, among the animals.
What could be more fitting, then, than the 80 paintings in the exhibition depicting their life in this park? Through intense and warm colors, Corine Dechauffour immortalizes the lions, giraffes, and cheetahs with which the family coexisted. She also depicts local life with the Maasai, a tribe that lives in the park.
According to Christian Estrosi, the Louis Nucéra Library is the ideal place for the exhibition. The venue is one of the most frequented in Nice, visited by people of all ages, but especially students. It is a place of inspiration and meditation, conducive to the reflection these works can invoke.
