For his first exhibition at Jean-Kenta Gauthier gallery, Charbel-joseph H. Boutros (born in Lebanon in 1981, lives between Paris and Beirut) inserts a tear from each of his eyes into a wall of each gallery, as if to bring both Odéon and Vaugirard spaces closer together and introduce the city of Paris into the work (Distant Tears, 2025). H. Boutros also merges days: in When Two Days Meet (2024-2025), the previous day's newspaper is reduced to ashes to cover the current day's newspaper—yesterday's news eclipses today's news.

Charbel-joseph H. Boutros composes his works using unexpected elements—dream, sleep, breath, wish or exhibition—which he distils into a variety of everyday materials—sheet, mattress, carpet, ash, balloon, votive wax, water or pills—to interweave intimacy, geography and political history. The exhibition is accompanied by a new essay, Somewhere, Night. A Text Inspired by Some of Charbel-joseph H. Boutros’ Nocturnal Works, written by art critic, curator, researcher and teacher Léa Bismuth.