Interview
Photography: giant portrait of France in the 2020s produced by 200 photographers
“France before their eyes” is the very successful result of work as extraordinary as it is gigantic. The exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) offers us a summary of 200 expeditions by photographers sent to all the territories of the Republic. This inventory of France since the health crisis shows the country in all its diversity: from young people to retirees, from sex workers in Paris, to judges rooted in Muslim tradition in Mayotte, from climate change to the new Russians of France to modern masculinities… Interview with co-curator Emmanuelle Hascoët.
“March for the climate” in March 2022, image by Philippe Labrosse in “An engaged and mobilized youth”, exhibited in “France under their eyes” at the National Library of France. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
By: Siegfried Forster Follow
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RFI
:
France before their eyes
, is this a unique project and exhibition of its kind
?
Emmanuelle Hascoët
:
This is a unique historic commission requested by the Ministry of
Culture
to support the profession of photojournalists as we emerge from the health crisis. The exhibition is unique in its scale, 200 photographers, and also in the amount allocated to them: 22,000 euros each to produce a report on France.
What struck you the most in terms of artistic approaches
?
The exhibition also paints a portrait of what the photojournalist profession is today and all its diversity: both traditional reporters and reporters who make more room for visual or metaphorical writing. They are all represented in the order, with 40% women.
Mehdi, 21 years old, Blanc-Mesnil (93), photo by Samuel Gratacap in “A youth in the countryside, between desire(s) and representations”, exhibited in “France under their eyes” at the National Library of France. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
Among the 200 photographers, is there a common denominator in relation to their observation concerning the state of France after the health crisis
?
The common denominator is their profession. Afterwards, the perspectives are diverse, but certain subjects are treated more widely than others. The world of work is well represented, but also all issues linked to the environment, the Anthropocene, youth, but also the elderly. Afterwards, some subjects are perhaps missing, for example, France which is doing well, we see it a little less in this order, despite subjects on culture or holidays with Stephan Gladieu (
Littoral
) and Céline Villegas (
Douce France
) who represented France on vacation.
After the Covid-19 health crisis, some have spoken of a real rupture. How is this rupture reflected in these images
?
The photographers did not have the injunction to deal with Covid, but with France afterwards. But obviously, there are all the ruptures between these populations, the youth who have suffered a lot. There are subjects on young people who are regaining their freedoms, who are living again, but also on young people who have been impacted, the student world, the psychiatric world… At the same time, the moment of the health crisis was also a great moment of solidarity. They are largely covered in the commission, with attention to the weakest, to precarious people, the reception of migrants... Unfortunately, the war in
Ukraine
was invited into this era of photographic commissioning. We also have many topics that deal - either directly or indirectly - with this war at the gates of Europe.
“Maïssa on the phone with a friend in the RER D”, photo by Sandra Mehl in “Love in the city”, exhibited in “France under their eyes” at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
Camille Gharbi's project,
Becoming a Man
, focuses on new masculinities.
This is also one of the consequences of the health crisis. There are many subjects linked to intimacy, individuals and communities. Camille Gharbi, but also
The Disappearance of James Bond
by Scarlett Coten, questioned these new masculinities. These are photographers from two different generations who approach the subject differently, but it is widely represented, as are the representations of the LGBTQI+ population, the queer world.
In recent years, the #MeToo movement and other women's demands have received a lot of media coverage. The new masculinities, what are they demanding
?
They demand, as the reports tell us, free ways of being a man. A change in appearance obviously, but also in mentality, the desire to assert one's sensitivity in certain cases. The images are often negotiated portraits where these men play with the photographer to dare representations to which we are increasingly accustomed, but which shake up a certain representation.
“Adrien, Brest”, photo of Scarlett Coten in “The Disappearance of James Bond”, exhibited in “France Under Their Eyes” at the National Library of France. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
Lynn SK presents
Every time history catches up with you
, a work on transgenerational memories linked to colonization and the Algerian war. Is this subject still relevant in today's France
?
It is a very sensitive subject which shows all the complexity, the mosaic, the complexity of these families linked to history, to their family history. She works in nuance. We have another subject on the question of Algeria, it is that of Anita Pouchard Serra,
Algeria(s), a mosaic of heirs
, where she went to meet families of first and second Algerian origin generation, in Marseille, in Paris, to understand a little where they were, what they were like, how the link with their country of origin was active or not and how to represent them. We also have
Les Maliens d'Évry
: first generation born in France
, by Patrick Zachmann, about the second generation of Malians living in France. These are subjects treated with great nuance and sensitivity by the photographers who really went to meet these families to understand the complexity of the links, the complexity of the relationships, of the history, how it was repeated over the generations. come. They collected a lot of words too. We have a lot of interviews. For Lynn SK's work, it is possible to listen to them. She really wanted part of the interviews to be reproduced in the exhibition.
In
Finally Part of France
, Abdulmonam Eassa questions the process of becoming French. Today, are we becoming differently French than 20 years ago
?
We have two photographers from recent immigration. Abdulmonam Eassa was naturalized, so it was a subject that touched him greatly. He wanted to follow the journey of around ten of these newly naturalized citizens by photographing them in camera. It’s a way of also majesting these people. He also followed the naturalization ceremonies and above all he asked them handwritten to tell their story, why it was important for them to become French. There are lots of different reasons: political refugees, economic refugees…
" Sweet France. Welcoming Ukrainian refugees. Series by Laurent van der Stockt, exhibited in “France under their eyes” at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
A subject has emerged in the news
:
The New Russians of France
by Patrick Wack. Who are these new Russians
?
Patrick Wack was interested in Russians refusing Putin's policies and settling as migrants in France. There are a lot of intellectuals, artists, bloggers, etc. He made portraits of the reasons for their exile, the spaces in which they had settled, how they had been welcomed. As a counterpoint, we put the work of Laurent Van der Stockt,
Douce France. Welcoming Ukrainian refugees
. He worked on the war in Ukraine, juggling his presence in Ukraine to cover the conflict from which he brought back images. And from there, he spoke with migrants coming from these bombed cities and whom he followed to France. It is a sort of cross-reportage, represented in the form of a diptych.
After seeing these 2,000 photos and selecting the work of the 200 photographers who traveled across France, do you have a different image of France today
?
I measure its complexity and above all the totality of the looks. I discovered a lot of realities thanks to the big order. The territory of Mayotte, for example, with the report by Bénédicte Kurzen,
Mayotte, where the spirits live
. Or
Les cadis de la République
by Ludovic Carème [
on the cadis (“
judges
” in Arabic) in Mayotte, Editor’s note
]. These are realities that photographers taught me to look at and understand. We have a portrait of a very multiple France and at the same time united around this motto.
“Kama Diarra, 39 years old, and her daughter Malla, 4 years old”. Photo of Patrick Zachmann in “The Malians of Evry: first generation born in France”, exhibited in “France under their eyes” at the National Library of France. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
►
France before their eyes. 200 photographers' views on the 2020s.
Exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, from March 19 to June 23, 2024.
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