the youth of the fields in reverse shot

Ua long, immersive investigation, without a biased view, without value judgment, far from the clichés about the countryside and this France that we call peripheral. For five years, documentary filmmaker Cédric Calandraud spent his weekends and his free time in Charente limousine, from La Rochefoucauld to Confolens. Camera slung over his shoulder, the young teacher in sociology of images in Paris and Limoges went to meet young rural people in a sector he knows well: his own, the land of his childhood in Saint-Projet, which he left to study social sciences in Bordeaux then documentary cinema in Paris.

The adolescents and young adults he worked with from 2009 to 2024 have remained. By choice. Also out of obligation. Their portraits and their daily lives are now the subject of a beautiful exhibition to be seen from June 7 to July 7 at Les Carmes in La Rochefoucauld. We discover around fifty prints (sometimes in very large format), the black and white of which shows “lives on the edge, between precariousness and geographical isolation, but lives of solidarity which give pride of place to friendship, to work and maintaining a good reputation,” underlines the author.

A “collaborative approach”

The project with an ethnographic dimension bears the title “The Rest of the World Does Not Exist”. He is above all humanist, with a sensitive approach, as close as possible to the subject. “The characters are between 15 and 25 years old and are called Anthony, Océane or Teddy,” says Cédric Calandraud. I got to know them at school, at the social center, at work or during their free time, when they meet at each other’s houses, at the motocross field or on the banks of the Tardoire. Although they often describe it as lack – of transport, jobs, public services and places to sociate – I have observed to what extent local young people are attached to their territory. By accompanying them, I wanted to capture their vision of the world and their aspirations. I saw their strategies for creating spaces of freedom. »

The author reports having wanted a “collaborative approach” with young people. “I have sometimes taken on the role of public photographer by responding to requests or needs: a snapshot with a new motorcycle, another with friends, a portrait for social networks. Photography has thus become a subject of discussion, of donations and counter-gifts, allowing me to gauge young people’s interest in images but also to explain my work. »

Opening June 7

The long-term project received support from the Laurent Troude scholarship (awarded by the Society of Authors of Visual Arts and Fixed Images and the newspaper “Libération”). It was also supported by the National Center for Plastic Arts (Cnap) and the “Grande commande photojournalisme” of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF).

The opening, on June 7, will begin at 4:15 p.m. with a conference with sociologists Yaëlle Amsellem-Mainguy and Clément Reversé at the Le Trait-d’union bookstore. A festive moment (with DJ and slideshow) is planned for June 8, in the evening, at the Café des sports in La Rochefoucauld.

Black and white shows “lives on the edge but lives in solidarity”