Silver lining

The proposed work is a photographic series entitled "Silver lining"; the title echoes the hope that this period represents in the fight against racism on both sides of the Atlantic. This documentary series focuses on the demonstration which took place in Paris on June 2, 2020, in support of Adama Traoré’s family, a young black man victim of police violence and whose case has been running since 2016. The case echoed the recent killing of Breonna Taylor and of George Floyd by police officers in the United States - amongst many others.

That day, Assa, Adama's sister, leads the procession. In her wake, 20,000 masked supporters gather in front of the Paris courthouse. Loud unanimous chants claim for black lives to matter. Cardboards rise high, like the moving waves of a school play stage decor. 

The artistic dimension of this series is twofold:

- First, the geography of the place. Composed of multidimensional urban spaces and facilities, the area facing the Paris Courthouse enabled the procession to form salient reliefs. On the tall containers facing the building, several levels of demonstrators align in the way of a class photo. These lines evoke a natural penchant toward order and harmony despite the transgressive context of the occasion. The pyramidal formations, for their part, evoke the urge of humans to rise: rise to see better, to hear better, to be heard, but also to dominate - which is also reflected in the architecture of the Tribunal, itself pyramidal as well.

- Second, the accumulation pattern. With hindsight, from these thousands of points, emerge noticeable lines, volumes, and salient points. As evidence of a fine balance between rebellion and discipline, the sanitary masks worn by everyone create a repetition of patterns, similar to the foam carried by the crests of waves.

This series embodies the attention my work pays to the geometries that spontaneously make up our environment, to the way we fit into the urban mold, like a stream running through its confluences.