Givors, Rhône, 2019.
As an essential element in the history of Western photography, so-called "Gypsies"
have given many photographers the opportunity to make a name for themselves - the
exotic close to home. Yet what we find close to home - the places of this exoticism -
are enclosed, concrete places, lined with motorways, railways, factories and
cemeteries, places that we do not see. Photography can thus accompany Travellers'
struggles by showing the environment of dedicated caravan sites that French
Travellers call "designated sites".
By travelling around France, I tried to build an archive of the encampment of
"Travellers [gens du voyage]", to document it and to produce evidence. In order to
see and make people see, I climbed up in trees, on electricity poles, on the roof of my
truck. For several years, I accumulated evidence that French citizens are being
placed under house arrest in places that are hostile to all forms of life. The
oxymoronic "welcoming areas [aires d'accueil" can be recognized by its fences, its
gates, its straight alleys, and, sometimes, by its panoptic social centre.
After half a century of various experiments, the French administration created
"welcoming areas for Travellers": places exclusively dedicated to one category of the
French population. Because these descendants of Roma, Sinti, Manouches, Gypsies
and Yeniches have the audacity to continue living in caravans in the 21st century,
they no longer have the right to choose their place of residence and are forced to live
in these shadeless car parks.
How can one show the segregation? Take a step back, take a broader view and
make visible what surrounds the caravan site: a factory, a waste disposal site, a
motorway, a railway line, a nuclear power station, a cemetery. Many places that
reveal the unspoken nature of public policies towards "Travellers [gens du voyage]".
My photographs have captured dedicated caravan sites through the lens of
environmental inequalities. In a world where a camp no longer shocks, can an
environmental approach arouse sympathy? At least that was the challenge of this
photographic project started in 2015.
have given many photographers the opportunity to make a name for themselves - the
exotic close to home. Yet what we find close to home - the places of this exoticism -
are enclosed, concrete places, lined with motorways, railways, factories and
cemeteries, places that we do not see. Photography can thus accompany Travellers'
struggles by showing the environment of dedicated caravan sites that French
Travellers call "designated sites".
By travelling around France, I tried to build an archive of the encampment of
"Travellers [gens du voyage]", to document it and to produce evidence. In order to
see and make people see, I climbed up in trees, on electricity poles, on the roof of my
truck. For several years, I accumulated evidence that French citizens are being
placed under house arrest in places that are hostile to all forms of life. The
oxymoronic "welcoming areas [aires d'accueil" can be recognized by its fences, its
gates, its straight alleys, and, sometimes, by its panoptic social centre.
After half a century of various experiments, the French administration created
"welcoming areas for Travellers": places exclusively dedicated to one category of the
French population. Because these descendants of Roma, Sinti, Manouches, Gypsies
and Yeniches have the audacity to continue living in caravans in the 21st century,
they no longer have the right to choose their place of residence and are forced to live
in these shadeless car parks.
How can one show the segregation? Take a step back, take a broader view and
make visible what surrounds the caravan site: a factory, a waste disposal site, a
motorway, a railway line, a nuclear power station, a cemetery. Many places that
reveal the unspoken nature of public policies towards "Travellers [gens du voyage]".
My photographs have captured dedicated caravan sites through the lens of
environmental inequalities. In a world where a camp no longer shocks, can an
environmental approach arouse sympathy? At least that was the challenge of this
photographic project started in 2015.
Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, 2021.
Colombes, Seine-Saint-Denis, 2021.
Nîmes, Vaucluse, 2021.
La Souterraine, Creuse, 2020.
Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, 2020.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, 2020.
