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ZONE 54 – 2012/…

PROJECT

ZONE 54 is a collaborative documentary and photographic project created between 2012 and 2017. At once experimental, social and anthropological, this documentary about the ‘zonards’ encountered in Nancy was produced mainly using analogue photography (6×7 medium format and disposable cameras).
Produced in collaboration with: Emy la Tortue, Gaëtan, Ingrid, Le fils, Mike.

STORY

I began this project with the zonard·e·s in 2012. For them, the « zone » refers to the city and its surroundings—the places where they live and move through—which is why they naturally use this term to describe themselves.
Over the course of three years, I spent time regularly with around fifteen people whom I first met in Nancy, accompanying them not only there but also to Paris and Brittany. By being with them two to three days a week, I gradually came to understand their everyday lives: begging, mutual support, squats, and travel. Together we shared moments of conversation, laughter and silence, periods of celebration and discouragement, as well as the quiet simplicity of daily life.
My approach was collaborative. Once my films had been developed and printed, I showed them the photographs, gave them copies, and we discussed them together. We reflected on the direction the project should take and on the themes that appeared over- or underrepresented in the images. Using disposable cameras, many photographs were taken by the participants themselves—a practice that continues today. These images, progressively presented in the various ZONE 54 exhibitions, complement and expand the photographs I produced until 2015.

This collaboration continues today, albeit from a greater distance, through ongoing conversations and shared news, sustained by a relationship that has endured well beyond the project’s original scope.

THE TWO EXHIBITION PROJECTS

Extending my photographic practice, this project has provided an opportunity to experiment with two complementary exhibition formats that engage in dialogue with one another through different venues and institutional partnerships.

ZONE 54 : I Love You Fuck Off

Produced during a residency at Spray Lab – Centre Culturel Gorges Pomp It Up, this exhibition combines social engagement with an experimental approach. The installation is composed of three synchronized screens presenting my photographs, wall-mounted photographs made by the zonard·e·s, objects created by Emy, and a sound piece built around five distinct soundscapes. This immersive environment seeks to transform the relationship between viewers and the images.
The entire installation is deliberately open-ended: there is no prescribed route, no beginning and no end. The intentional desynchronization of image and sound reinforces this openness. The same visual sequences take on different meanings depending on the soundscape accompanying them, making it impossible to fully control or predict the viewer’s experience.

ZONE 54 : Unrestricted Area

Produced with the support of the Regards Sans Limites grant and CRI des Lumières, Unrestricted Area extends this research by shifting the viewer’s attention toward the exhibition space itself. Here, the photographic prints allow multiple images to be experienced simultaneously: several scenes coexist within the viewer’s field of vision, encouraging a fragmented and active mode of reading.
Rather than unfolding over time, the narrative develops through space. It emerges through the movement of the viewer’s gaze and body, following the exhibition wall from the entrance before returning to the starting point. Four thematic sections structure this journey—squats, street begging, alternative social spaces, and collective activities—each offering a fragment of the everyday lives of the zonard·e·s. Every section opens up new perspectives without imposing a single interpretation, allowing visitors to move freely, compare images, and construct their own connections.

SUPPORT

This project has received the Regards Sans Limites Creative Grant, the support of the CRI des lumières the Tillion-Rivière Thesis Prize awarded by the French Association of Ethnology and Anthropology (Association Française d’Ethnologie et d’Anthropologie – AFEA).

EXHIBITIONS

> ZONE 54 : Unrestricted Area,Franco-German Institute, Tübingen, Germany – 2026
> ZONE 54  : I Love You Fuck Off, with Emy, Barlos Festival , Nancy – 2024
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area, with Emy, Nancy City Hall – 2024
> ZONE 54 : I Love You Fuck Off, IRTS, Nancy – 2023
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area, Helicoop , Abbaye de Senones, Senones – 2019
> ZONE 54 : I love you fuck off, Nuit de l’Instant Festival, Marseille – 2018
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area La Chambre, Strasbourg – 2018
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area, Maison de la culture de Metz – 2017
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area, Saarländisches Künstlerhaus, Saarbrücken, Allemagne – 2016
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area, EHESS, Paris – 2016
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area, Galerie Robert Doisneau, Vandoeuvre – 2016
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area, Cri des Lumières, Lunéville – 2015
> ZONE 54 : I Love You Fuck Off,Centre Culturel Georges Pomp It Up — Spraylab, Nancy – 2015
> ZONE 54 : Unresctricted Area, Stadtmuseum Kaiserslautern, Allemagne – 2015