Posted Oct 3, 2022 9:00 AM
“Hello, do you know each other? – No no. »
“Can I photograph you? – Yes yes. »
This is how the photographer Raphael de Bengy approached couples of strangers sitting side by side in the Paris metro. A particular introduction had regard to the coldness which can reign in the public transport of the capital, but which made it possible to make travel together these fortuitous couples stuck in the framings of the photographer.
From a small village “where everyone is alike”, the photographer experienced a shock the first time he entered the metro in Paris. He had never seen so many people of different origins and social situations… It was this observation that led him to his project.
Alchemy
The exhibition made up of photos taken between 2019 and 2021 was hampered by the Covid and the stickers stuck on the seats “Be nice, don’t sit next to this person.” A halt to living together and therefore to the project. The confinement has passed and the couples have once again been reunited in the underground trains with the smile of life returning.
The images are to be admired as a whole or separately, accompanied by a few lines retracing the shooting conditions and the feedback of the subjects after the discovery of their portraits.
Raphael de Bengy with his tight framing isolates the couples, highlights them, but also extracts them from their underground journey and the alchemy works: they move together in the same direction.
Photo exhibition to discover from October 3 to November 2, rue de Rivoli in Paris.
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