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A room with a view

A room with a view

Nestled between the very chic Galeries Lafayette and the Opéra Garnier, in the heart of Paris’ posh 9th arrondissement, a former five-star luxury hotel (the W), which has never reopened since the first confinement, has been temporarily transformed until April 2022 into an emergency reception centre for 80 women and 62 children in exile. More than an emergency shelter, the “L” is intended to be a place of respite. Like a bubble outside of time to allow the women to recover for a few months. And in this slow reconstruction, comfort is important.The rooms, most of which are single, are spacious, bright and equipped with soft king size beds – one of the vestiges left by the luxury hotel. For these women, who are used to being transported at the rate of the places available in the social hotels, they finally have a time of respite, a year to rebuild themselves. 99% of these women are exiles, having fled excision, forced marriage, domestic violence or prostitution. Being welcomed in a beautiful and comfortable place, with a space that allows for privacy, has a real impact.

The former Hotel W has been reinvested as a Centre L since May by the CASP association (Centre d’Action Sociale Protestant). This association, which is recognised as being of public utility, manages 70 emergency accommodation centres in the Ile-de-France region. It gave me exclusive access to document this project.

“A Room with a View” documents in two stages this initiative, which came into being in the wake of the health crisis and the ensuing tourism crisis in the capital.
1. Focus on the reconstruction and well-being at the heart of the vital process of these women and children. Sophisticated, elegant and original portraits will be made in creative consultation with the subjects, an air of fashion photography that reveals the invisible. In this luxurious setting, the dichotomy Migrants, Tourists, Expats is erased. These women and children are represented with dignity, the visual impact of the portraits reveals their strength.
2. In their rooms, archive photos, remnants of their past, and post-it notes with small words in French are stuck to the walls. I have access to the witness room / testimony 219 to set up a visual installation in collaboration with the residents and the social workers. A photo-booth with a pleated white drapery as a background is set up as a goodbye to these walls.
A collage of photographs takes shape to leave an imprint and an open reflection on the new occupants. The hotel will be demolished to be transformed into offices by the company Assembly which owns it, allowing me to visually document the renovation of this room. This photographic art installation and its own destruction symbolise both the precariousness of these lives, and that of social work.

Project supported by CASP Association and by the French government – Direction régionale des affaires culturelles (DRAC) des Pays de la Loire