The Maison Européenne de la Photographie is holding a retrospective of the work of Marie-Paule Nègre through August 31. The journalist Magali Jauffret has written two wonderful pieces about Nègre’s work, including on the themes of affluence and and poverty. We would like to thank her for giving us permission to republish them here.
Ordinary Poverty in Modern Times
In the Late 1980s, a new vocabulary for economics and social welfare emerged in France with the term RMI (revenu minimum d’insertion) and, concomitantly, “the new poor.” The term describes employed workers not earning enough to survive, housewives who have never worked, retired farmers, young people without entitlements to financial aid, and former mining, steel or textile industry workers who find themselves unemployed, useless and in jeopardy. In 1988, Le Secours Populaire asked Marie-Paule Nègre to meet with the latter throughout France, because the signs of poverty the photographer shows us are not the same everywhere.
Ordinary Affluence in Modern Times
In response to her immersion in poverty, Nègre, working on a commission from the Ministry of Culture, explored the milieu of the country’s “gilded youth.” With this project, Nègre followed in the footsteps of the American photographer Diane Arbus, who documented the lives of the rich and poor for the magazine Vanity Fair.
EXHIBITION
Marie-Paule Nègre
Mine de rien…
From June 4th to August 31st, 2014
MEP – Maison Européenne de la Photographie
5/7 rue de Fourcy 75004 Paris
France
BOOK
Marie-Paule Nègre
Texts by : Magali Jauffret
Editions Terre Bleue
200 photographs
268 pages
21 x 29,7 cm (L x H)
ISBN: 9782909953366
42 €
