Parallel Paris

Abstract

"Parallel Paris is the result of a year of roaming around Paris' banlieues and capturing the stark and alienated scenery that makes up their surroundings. The name follows the book's concept: showing the parallel reality of Paris that lives alongside the romanticized version for which she is known globally. Two monumental French movies, Playtime by Jacques Tati and La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz, were used as references to put this reality into a clear perspective and draw a second parallel: that of their shared architectural backdrop. One that today is merely a remnant of what once were grand ideas of modern society. Where Playtime gives an insight into the world that has fallen suit to modernism and its influence on Mr. Hulot's life, La Haine reflects life in those modern complexes decades later. The parallel that can be drawn between the two is based on the sense of alienation, the emptiness that the subjects experience both in the literal sense and in the proverbial sense."-- Photographer's website.