The bobo ‘burbs
In our monthly peek through the eye of a local photographer,
Laurent Chehere talks cultural diversity in his Paris home
THIS PICTURE IS PART OF
my Flying House
series, shot in Paris’s Ménilmontant
and Belleville areas, where I live. These
arrondisements have a sort of Montmartre
atmosphere without the tourists, where
the bobo (bourgeois bohèmes, media
types) live side by side with poor people
from Algeria, Mali, Ivory Coast and China.
My inspiration lies in a desire to show the
condition of life of poor people in a big
occidental city; to tear these sad houses
from their anonymity. To do this, I use
Photoshop to make a photomontage. First
I draw my ideal house, then I cast every
element by shooting in the right light – sky,
building, windows, bird, fire, cable, people,
graffiti, etc – and put them together. I love
photographic manipulation techniques,
because they help your imagination. For
some people these shots will symbolise
how we get burdened as we get older;
family, jobs and other responsibilities take
away our freedom. Some will see a place
of nostalgia – a “sweet home”; some a
place of poverty. Some will just see a
house in the air.
Flying Houses will be at the Galerie
Paris-Beijing until 4 December.
parisbeijingphotogallery.com
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