Photography. The abandoned churches of Francis Meslet

Who would believe it, except those who put away the key? In these times when the thread of memory is unraveling, replaced by the cult of the immediate present, the void resonates in these places like a permanent snub. No matter what the prayers that have been whispered there for centuries, abandonment now reigns under the heavens, barely disturbed by the wind.

The Nancy photographer Francis Meslet devotes a book to dormant places of worship. Churches, chapels, oratories, crypts… but also monasteries, abbeys and priories left there in their own way, populated with their statues, votive offerings and other furniture, impressive in silence and majesty. To do this, he crisscrossed nearby Europe, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Portugal …

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“Not ruins but relics”

Passionate for ten years now of what is known as Urbex, the English acronym of Urban exploration, he actually examines the sociology of oblivion when others only feel the thrill of it. ‘not allowed.

“I started by taking an interest in wasteland industrial sites that make up the history of Lorraine. Today, after more than 700 portfolios, I realized that more than a quarter of them were devoted to places of worship. The first alert came in 2017 when, spotted on the social networks where he disseminates his work, Francis Meslet is contacted by the review founded by the Indian photographer reporter Raghu Ra ï. This was followed by the publication of an eight-page portfolio which attracted the attention of German magazines Stern and Spiegel.

The idea then arose to bring this work together. As usual, most often with musicians, Francis Meslet likes to work in partnership, he then asks other looks to comment on his images blindly, those of the historian, the chronicler, the musician, the writer or scenographer… And it is the Vosgien Christian Montesinos who opens the tribute to these places where men have lost their way, which “are not ruins but relics”.

And to wonder: “Abandonment, forgetfulness, ingratitude, would they (Editor’s note these churches) have fallen into the vulgar domain of consumable, disposable? Yet “just like brownfields, they bear witness to a not so distant time that forged our present world. “

“Abandoned churches, abandoned places of worship” by Francis Meslet published by Jonglez, 224 pages, € 35.

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