In the spring and summer of 1995 the writer and filmmaker Pierre Guicheney, the ethnologist Viviana Paquew and photographer Jean-Luc Manaud produced for the French edition of Geo Magazine a report on Gnawa and Aissawa rituals and pilgrimages. The report included Marrakech, Meknes, Moulay Brahim, and Tamesloht. Jean-Luc Manaud brought back exceptional images from the immersion.
The French Institute in Essaouira is featuring a comprehensive exhibition and homage to Manaud from May 12 to through July 23, 2016 called “7 Colors of Jean-Luc Manaud.” The exhibition is comprised of two levels of photographs that are mounted on the historic walls of an 18th Century building that the French Institute in Essaouira occupies on Rue Laaloug. There is also a complementary documentary by Pierre Guicheney Le bal des génies (1998) that is being screened during this exhibition.
Jean-Luc Manaud was born in the southern city of Gafsa in Tunisia. Manaud was a regular contributor to Le Figaro Magazine and Géo, touring the world of guerillas from Eritrea to Cambodia.
In the early years of 2000, Manaud began painting on Polaroids, writing travel and children’s books combining calligraphy, drawing, cut-outs, and photographs. Manaud passed away in 2015. The exhibition at the French Institute in Essaouira is a tribute to his works of art, made in Morocco.