He looks outside to see inside… Streets, highways, paths, fields, beaches – exposed, ready for inspection… the inwards of France, 20,000 kilometers of it. For nearly one year, Jérome Albertini traveled through France in his Ford, spent nights in parking lots and camp grounds, eating fruits and vegetables from the fields, blacking out his roadmap for €14,000. Albertini sought to uncover contemporary France as it is, a country in total transformation.
From rural zones to urban spheres, from projects to hip neighborhoods, Albertini dove into the depths of the French nation. From the mining towns of the north to the agricultural regions of the Sarthe, from Lorient through Brittany, Paris, Versailles, La Défense, his pictures reveal France today. Certain details humorously reveal surprising contrasts.
Revealing an authentic vision, Albertini hopes to awaken consciousness. From this individual wake-up call he hopes to provoke a group reaction. Like Robert Frank and his “Americans” in 1953, this is a “civilization” in pictures. Born and raised in France, Albertini has been living and working in the United States for 20 years. He brings a “new vision” with his foreign eyes to the country of his childhood. Having always focused on humanity, and with his theatrically trained eye and his Canon 1DS mark III 35mm, he delivers 120 pictures about France today.
Eve Therond
