Forgotten Housing Estates In Paris Captured By Laurent Kronental
- Words
- Jessica Jungbauer
For the ongoing series ‘Souvenir d’un futur‘, French photographer Laurent Kronental documents life at the ‘Grands Ensembles’, the large housing projects in Paris, since four years. Built during the housing crisis between the 1950s and the 1980s, the decaying buildings are located in the city’s suburban area. Using an analog camera, Kronenthal captures melancholic images of the senior citizens as well as the concrete buildings. The exhibition at Bibliothèque National de France will run until February, 7.
+ Read MoreIn a statement about the project, Kronenthal says: “Marked by the passing of time, these massive, gray buildings, like their elder residents, bear the signs of long lives. And yet, in these wrinkled faces and cracked walls, in the energy of the bodies and of the facades, emerges the pride and pulse that we thought had disappeared.”
Jacques, 82, Le Viaduc et les Arcades du Lac, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, 2015
Joseph, 88, Les Espaces d’Abraxas, Noisy-le-Grand, 2014
Les Tours Aillaud, Cité Pablo Picasso, Nanterre, 2014
Les Orgues de Flandre, 19e arrondissement Paris, 2014
Josette, 90, Vision 80, Esplanade de La Défense, 2013
Lucien, 84, Les Espaces d’Abraxas, Noisy-le-Grand, 2014
Jean, 89, Puteaux-La Défense, 2011
Le Pavé Neuf, Noisy-le-Grand, 2015
Joseph, 88, Les Espaces d’Abraxas, Noisy-le-Grand, 2014
Paulette, 83, Les Damiers, Courbevoie, 2015
José, 89, Les Damiers, Courbevoie, 2012
Roland, 85, Les Arcades du Lac, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, 2015
Denise, 81, Cité du Parc et cité Maurice-Thorez, Ivry-sur-Seine, 2015
All images © Laurent Kronenthal
