Engaged in a multidisciplinary practice spanning visual arts and dance, Smaïl Kanouté has been developing for several years a project on African diasporas around the world, exploring how dance practices become spaces for existing within environments governed by violence.
A residency in New Orleans in 2023 as part of Villa Albertine introduced him to a community of Black Indians and opened a new path in his artistic practice, leading to the creation of visual artworks that he exhibited for the first time in a gallery in 2025 (exhibition "Black Eguns" at Galerie Dix9).