With a poetic, exuberant visual language, she develops feminist counter-mythologies that subvert patriarchal narrative structures. A central work is her long-term project Dark Continent (DC: Productions), inspired by Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies, in which she designs an allegorical “city of women.”

Her works have been shown internationally, including at The Cosmic House, Turner Contemporary, Tate, Serpentine Galleries, UK, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Italy, Grazer Kunstverein, Austria, and Tensta Konsthall, Sweden. In 2019, she was awarded the Turner Prize alongside three other artists. In 2023, Shani was the subject of solo exhibitions at KM21, The Hague, and the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Significant projects such as DC: Semiramis were presented at the Glasgow International Festival and The Tetley in Leeds. In 2025, she presented two highly acclaimed exhibitions, The Sun Is a Flame That Haunts The Night at the High Line in New York and The Spell or The Dream, a large-scale audiovisual installation at Somerset House in London.

Madeleine received her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University before pursuing a Masters in « Media, Arts and Creation » at HEC Paris and a Master 2 in gender and performance studies at the EHESS. There, she led an arts-based research project with the nonprofit Women Safe, where she continues to facilitate a creative writing and theatre workshop. Madeleine is currently completing her PhD at the EHESS ; her dissertation research examines contemporary methods for devising performance in France.

Her most recent writing can be found in CURA., OnCurating, SwitchOn Paper, and EarthKeepingEarthShaking. She has curated two group shows : Spine at GIANNI MANHATTAN as part of Curated by (Vienna, 2024), as well as Scabs at the Mécènes du Sud (Montpellier, 2023). Madeleine pursues her training in contemporary dance.