In images, in picturesIn 2021, photographer Sandra Mehl explored the bonds forged between young people in this city of great social and cultural diversity. This series called “Their Eternal” is on display until May 22 as part of the Urban Eye festival organized by the municipality.
How to show love? In Corbeil-Essonnes, whose photographer Sandra Mehl made her playground for several months of the year 2021, as part of a residency at the L’Œil urbain festival, it seems to be very little. Here, a kiss is placed on a forehead. There, one hand grabs another. A few moments shared at the funfair, a curious look cast on a graceful figure passing in the distance, or a tag on a wall as a statement. We are far, here, from the demonstrative outpourings of romance novels or reality TV programs.
With the series their eternal, exhibited in Corbeil-Essonnes until May 22, Sandra Mehl, born in 1980 and who lives in Montpellier, continues her work on the outskirts. In her documentary style, she has already shown the journey of two sisters, Ilona and Maddelena, raised in the Gély housing estate in Montpellier, the life of refugees on the outskirts of Jericho, in the West Bank, the Sète summer near the beach des Mouettes, a lagoon sheltered from tourists… Constantly the same taste for the side.
“To talk about love is to talk about social classes, religion, territories, family and community pressures. Everything is connected. » Sandra Mehl
“I have always been struck by the fact that the images of the suburbs always show only problems of housing, employment, police violence, delinquencyexplains Sandra Mehl. The affective dimension is never addressed. However, for me, who has a background in sociology, the social interferes in the smallest plot of the intimate. To speak of love is to speak of social classes, religion, territories, family and community pressures. Everything is connected. »
The city of Corbeil-Essonnes allowed her this counterpoint: she decided to document, with film and in square format, the romantic relationships of youth, by photographing precisely the places where these links are forged. College, shopping centres, carnivals, community centres… Sometimes introduced with the help of cultural organizers, she asked questions of her subjects, aged 13 to 25, gave them confidence, without ever delaying trigger. “Young people are volatile, they slip through your fingers”, she explains.
Fear of what will be said
His images capture brushings, moments of sharing, discussions, but always with modesty. “The most explicit gestures of tenderness were above all photographed in the city center”, where the middle class lives. “The young people we met in the estates did not let themselves go. If a boy meets his girlfriend in the neighborhood, they told me, they don’t greet each other by exchanging a kiss, but by a check. Love is private: no one has to know that you are together, especially if you come from different neighborhoods, such as Montconseil and Tarterêts, which have been in rivalry for decades. »
You have 24.13% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.