after an interval of 25 years, comparative views of the inhabitants of the neighbourhoods of North Marseille by photographer Gilles Favier and the journalist Philippe Pujol.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the Ministry of Culture wanted to draw up an inventory of France and commissioned Raymond Depardon to travel around the countryside. Four other photographers were given responsibility for suburbs deemed “sensitive”. Marseille fell to Gilles Favier, who lived in Paris. He settled in La Renaude, a disadvantaged enclave divided in two in the north of the city. At the top the public housing projects, where the Arab families live. At the bottom, the concrete cubes where the Gipsy community lives.
The photographer stayed there for a year and a half in 1991 and 1992, using 6×6 format photography to produce a reportage of the highest quality in black and white that remains, 25 years later, the precious evidence of the story of the inhabitants of La Renaude, and more broadly, that of the northern districts of the city. The writing of Philippe Pujol, winner of the 2014 Albert Londres Prize, was essential for examining this body of images. Using the testimony of the people who had been photographed, and whom he met, he investigated the issues of the neighbourhood in the best traditions of literary journalism.
The photos of 20 years ago produced unexpected cries of delight from those who saw them, but also a few sad memories. The prints were made for them and scattered on the table waiting for those who had been photographed to be recognised. The photos glistened like pearls of memory in the eyes of each of them. “You go into a private courtyard a living space for one, for others a storage space for all sorts of objects, with chickens and sometimes rabbits”, he writes, “On the roofs of wobbly verandas are thrown bikes and baby-walkers. […] A report produced by Doctors of the World in 2000 explained that the majority of people have a very low income and are in a precarious social and professional situation, 80% of fathers with families are unemployed, 65% of the total of those able to work are without work. All the households receive personalised housing assistance. A quarter of households live below the poverty line. The bulk of the income comes from financial assistance and allowances. The indebtedness is striking. It is frightening because it can lead to eviction.”
Irène Attinger
Irène Attinger is the manager of the library and the bookshop at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, in Paris.
Gilles Favier & Philippe Pujol, Marseillais du Nord / Seigneurs de naguère
Published by Le bec en l’air
29€
