Home On Hold
Paris, 2020-...

'Home On Hold' is an ongoing project that grew out of encounters in the 'Cité

de Refuge', a shelter and social reintegration centre in the 13th disctrict of Paris,

during and since the Covid-19 pandemic.

For a long time I have been working in these singular spaces and in contact with

the women, men and children who occupy them for a period that is often  undefined.

Most of the residents have had a troubled life, for whatever reason.

Too often I was just passing through, in a temporality that does not allow me to really

grasp what is going on : the use of places, the movement of bodies, the nature of the

relationships that are being built there and the hopes of a new beginning.

During the period of the pandemic that we went through, I wanted to create long-term

links with residents, to take the time to get to know each other. We agreed on more or

less regular meetings to discuss more about their relationship with the place and

their dreams rather than their backgrounds or the past. We talked about what it means

for each of them to have a home. By mutual agreement, we are sometimes taking a series of photographs.

With the youngest, children or teenagers, I question both their way of using the

collective spaces and their ability to build themselves, to imagine a future while living here.

The idea is therefore to enquire the notions of home, intimacy and belonging as well as the emotional and practical consequences of the absence of a permanent home.