Les corons, a story of the North
By returning regularly to the North, I came to understand that this territory carries a persistent memory, shaped by migration, labor, and the landscapes of everyday life.
I grew up between two cultures, French and Polish, and the history of my working-class family, rooted in the corons, has always been intertwined with that of thousands of others. My grandfather, Władysław, like his father Jean Nowak before him, was one of the men who came from Poland to work in the mines. Through them, I attempt to bring entire life trajectories back into view.
This project was born from the need to return to these places: the corons, the mining housing estates, the former pits now left abandoned. I have photographed what remains : in faces, façades, gestures. I have revisited family archives and met former miners, sometimes friends of my grandfather, as well as descendants of workers from Italy, Morocco, Portugal, and Algeria.
‘Les Corons: a story of the North’ is a visual narrative where past and present intertwine. The series alternates portraits, landscapes, intimate objects, and historical documents. It evokes both collective memory and individual recollections. Beyond personal genealogy, it is an attempt at transmission: to remind that these men and women shaped this territory, and that their history deserves to be seen at a human scale. The landscape of the North, in its ruggedness and fragility, is also a landscape of memory.
