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Men and women who have undergone violent, wayward and turbulent lives.
Here, they take the time to invest their efforts in a piece of waste ground.
Self-respect and respect for each other are expressed in working the earth.
This shared garden to which they lend their efforts responds to their deepest impulses.

This project came about while I was managing a social housing scheme in the Yvelines, near Paris.

It is composed of 25 self-contained housing units, managed by a team of professionals who oversee and support the residents seeking safety, conviviality and privacy in their lives.

Since this scheme began, the duo made up of my colleague and myself has striven, in looking after the residents’ wellbeing, to operate within a participative and dynamic collective spirit.

We met willing and eager partners (“CCAS” – social community centres) across the region who allowed us unconditional access to their family plots.

Initially limited to giving a hand from time to time on plots that were already occupied, a hard core of six gardeners came into being within the community. Then, emboldened by collective confidence, we were able to gain access to 400m2 of wasteland in need of human and technical intervention.

Patrice, Diamantino, Michel, Sikki, Jean Jacques, Gérard and Hugues… “My Garden” where everyone contributes freely to his or her own part of a greater whole. Admittedly, it has not always been easy accompanying the steps that this community has taken to transform this former football ground, but having overcome everyone’s respective physical limitations, a genuine team spirit arose which spread to the neighbouring shared gardens.

Today, they have become fully-fledged gardeners, tending to their garden despite the vagaries of the weather or personal problems, perfecting their knowledge, sharing the results of their dedication and redistributing their harvest to those in need.

Shared moments of sweat, laughter, generosity, even anger… this photographic project aims to bear witness to these fields of the possible, cross-cultural, inter-supportive and cross-generational… even if we have not yet succeeded with Diamintino’s idea to grow cuttings from “500 € banknote trees”…