Anne-Sophie Mignaux Kamar and Cyril Kamar, founders of Maison Keï Akai
Maison Keï Akai was born in 2023 from a desire to create more than just a place to exhibit art — it was envisioned as a space where conversations unfold, ideas collide, and identities are celebrated. Located in the heart of Montreal, the gallery was founded by Anne-Sophie Mignaux-Kamar and Cyril Kamar, an artist himself, with a deep conviction that contemporary art should be a mirror to society and a catalyst for change. Drawing from his musical roots and profound respect for artistic freedom, Kamar imagined a gallery that wouldn't just show art but would defend it — protecting the voice, vision, and philosophy of the artists behind the work. Maison Keï Akai is ultimately a project of connection: between disciplines, between creators, and between the artwork and the viewer.
Giving voice
We are drawn to artists whose work goes beyond aesthetics to spark dialogue — political, poetic, intimate, or societal. We look for creators with a distinct voice, often rooted in interdisciplinary practices, who use their medium to challenge perceptions or open new perspectives. What matters most is not only the originality of their visual language, but the intention behind it: a commitment to something larger than themselves, whether it be a story, a silence, a cause, or a transformation. We favour artists who see art not as an end in itself, but as a space for questioning, connecting, and even unsettling.
A special exhibition with Bixler’s premier photographer, Sandrine Castellan
Sandrine Castellan’s photographic practice holds precisely the kind of quiet force we champion at the gallery. With Effervescence, her first foray into the world of contemporary art, she presents a body of work that doesn’t shout but lingers — an exploration of femininity that is rich with nuance, vulnerability, and tension. Her gaze is neither didactic nor detached; it is empathetic, introspective, and deeply cinematic. What drew us to her work is its ability to suspend time — to capture that threshold between presence and absence, between gesture and silence. Castellan doesn't document, she conjures. And in doing so, she creates images that are both deeply personal and universally resonant.
Art you can feel
Music and art share a unique power: they bypass explanation and speak directly to emotion. At Maison Keï Akai, we believe that art, like music, resonates most deeply when it’s felt rather than understood. Both have the ability to disarm us, to lower our defenses, and to reveal something essential — about the world, or about ourselves. Music, in particular, has long been a source of inspiration for our founder, Cyril Kamar (also known as K.Maro who just released a new song last week and is preparing a new album this spring). It’s a pulse that runs through the gallery’s programming and curatorial choices, an undercurrent of rhythm and sensitivity. Whether visual or sonic, the arts invite us to slow down, to listen differently, and to connect more honestly — to others, and to our own inner landscapes.
Inside Maison Keï Akai
Love is the light
Love — in all its ambiguity and power — has always been one of art’s most compelling subjects. But what art offers is not a definition of love; it offers its experience. Through gesture, image, texture, and sound, it allows us to approach what often escapes language: affection, obsession, devotion, rupture, longing, silence. In this way, art doesn’t simply express love — it transforms it. Sandrine Castellan’s Effervescence inscribes itself precisely within this thinking. Her photographs well in the liminal zones of intimacy: a half-open mouth, a sidelong glance, a blurred shoulder. These are not declarations of love, but suggestions — trembling with desire, vulnerability, and the ambiguity of presence. In her work, sensuality is never overt, never claimed; it is hinted, withheld, and this restraint creates space for projection, memory, resonance. Love, here, is not a fixed narrative — it is a vibration, a latent force