Originally from Brittany, you chose to live and work in Roubaix. Why this choice ?
« I didn’t choose Roubaix, Roubaix chose me! After my baccalaureate (passed in Evry) I applied for two BTS photography, Paris and Roubaix, the only two well-known public BTS. I was refused in Paris and accepted in Roubaix…it’s fate!
During these two years of BTS in Roubaix, I searched for myself as a photographer and as a person. I then left for Carcassonne to specialize in the field that attracted me the most (thanks to Roubaix): social documentary photography.
After a two-month internship in the Congo where I produced a report on child victims of cerebral palsy, I had to choose where to settle in France… and Roubaix naturally imposed itself… »
Naturally?
« Yes, for several reasons: for its inhabitants, because there is a solidarity and a welcome there that I have not found anywhere else, because it is a city full of initiatives, because there all the cultures of the world, we discover new things every day, we’re always surprised, because it’s a city that’s incredibly rich in terms of associations, because I felt like I belonged there and it’s a city other than that…it’s fine with me! »
You have just been selected by the BNF alongside 100 talented photographers to work on the subject of the health crisis. Can you tell us more about it ?
« Our city has been particularly affected and will bear the stigma of this health crisis. My topic is called “Open Fists”. It is a dive into the daily life of young boxers in Roubaix, in order to question the aspirations of a generation after this health crisis and to paint a portrait of the Roubaix territory, so special due to the youth and the heterogeneity of its population.»
Do you have other projects in Roubaix?
« Two projects are currently underway:
– The Culinary Journey, a project around urban renewal and the memory of the inhabitants, through “food”… everything I love!
– La Guinguette, a memory project supported by the region as part of the PRAC, on the “Barbe d’or” residence which will be destroyed as part of urban renewal
Roubaix is also a daily project because I live there and I always keep my eyes open when something is happening there or I meet someone there. »
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