The Fume of Sighs


Maryse, 83, was born in Marseille. In 1969, she moved with her husband Michel to Sarcelles, a suburban city in the north of Paris. In August 2017, Michel passed away. Since then, I spent some time with her. At home she mourns while emptying the apartment from a variety of objects. When we are together, we remember Michel, we talk about life, death and absence. In a sense, we became confidants of secrets, fears and anecdotes. We replaced our respective solitudes - me as a migrant, she as a widow - within stories and dreams.
This is a story about life, absence, love and friendship. It documents the uncertain experience of being alone but also the alchemy of an unpredicted encounter. 

The Rugbywomen


Training day in Chantereine under the snow. In the background, the social housing buildings of Sarcelles. 

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Koumba, 16, is one of the best players of Chantereine High School.  She lives in a social housing tower in Sarcelles. This city has the biggest social housing density of the country. View from Koumba’s apartment.


Koumba, 16, is one of the best players of Chantereine High School. She lives in a social housing tower in Sarcelles. 

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The Rugbywomen: Tackling Stereotypes


In January 2017 I started following a group of rugbywomen from the Chantereine High School of Sarcelles, a “banlieue” in the north of Paris. “Banlieue” is a French word to designate a marginalized suburb. Somehow banlieues are the banned places, often socially and politically dismissed by the State. Sarcelles is one of the most impoverished city of the country and a significant part of its population has an immigrant background.

In 2017 the Chantereine club was one of the best newcomer teams of the country. This was in part due to a collective effort between a young group of rugby players and their coach Florian Clement, who started a project called “20 rugbywomen sarcelloises” in 2015. The main objective was to use rugby as a way to limit the school dropout and to promote citizenship values. In fact, Sarcelles has one of the highest school dropout rates of the country. By virtue of this project and to the values promoted by rugby - empowerment, discipline, teamwork – the rugby girls were motivated to obtain their “brevet” (high school diploma) and at the end of the year all of them achieved it. In addition, four of them had been selected to join professional rugby clubs in Montpellier, Perpignan and Bretigny. They continued their schooling in these professional training centers for the next 3 years.

For these young women, rugby is an empowering medium to overcome difficulties and gain confidence. It is also a tool to reverse gender, social and racial stereotypes, and to change the image of young women living in French banlieues.

In Chantereine 86% of the students come from low-income families. They have been training together since 2014. In 2016 they were the best newcomer team of France (4th). In this picture, they prepare a travel to UK on May 2017.


In the Chantereine High School 86% of the students come from low-income families. They have been training together since 2014. In 2016 they were the best newcomer team of France (4th). In this picture, they prepare a travel to UK on May 2017.

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Abdel waters the various vegetables in the garden of the Engraineurs

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Les Engraineurs

Gardening in the Parisian Suburbs


In May 2016 I met Manu, inhabitant of Sarcelles at the origin of "Les Engraineurs". With his wife they embarked on an unusual adventure in this suburban low-income city located in the north of Paris. They created a urban garden in the middle of the HLM (social housing buildings). With the support of some neighbors, they built the first gardens. In Sarcelles, the biggest "social-housing city" of France, people don't have the opportunity to met each other because there is no collective spaces to socialize. Soon, the Engraineurs started making regular meetings in order to create new links between the neighbors. If gardening was the primary goal, the experience also allowed them to create new friendships and promote new social networks based on gardening. Thanks to these meetings, Les Engraineurs where able to set up cultural activities within this new space. Between January and July, they organized parties and screening in the open air. At the last event, more than 200 neighbors gathered to screen a film about urban agriculture in the United States. Gardening is a way of being committed with the environment and their own community. It is also a tool of resilience in order to overcome the negative stereotypes conveyed by local media related to Sarcelles.

Children are the ones who benefit the most from the Engraineurs meetings. Neighborhood party.

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The Engraineurs organize between neighbors to regularly cultivate the garden.

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