Abi Summers

La France sous leur yeux at the BNF François-Mitterrand

I recently when to see this photography exhibition which displays the work of 200 different photographers in more than 400 photos who all captured moments during 2020s. It was my first time attending an exhibition here - and until recently I didn’t even know the library had exhibitions. All of the photographers here have a tie with France - either through being French or living in France.

The exhibition was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture in 2021 to establish a representation of France after Covid. It is the largest public photographic commission in Europe with a budget of 5.46 million euros and allowed the winning photographers to benefit from funding of 22,000€.

Full price tickets to the exhibition are 10€, but because I have the BNF carte Lecture/Culture it was free.

My thoughts

I really liked this exhibition, it exceeded my expectation (which yes, I probably shouldn’t have had any). The exhibit was bigger than I expected so I spent more time here than I initially planned (I spent over an hour here but I could have spent double this time). I want to go again before the exhibition ends (on the 23rd June 2024) because I feel like I rushed the end - it takes me quite a lot of mental energy to read and reflect on things in French. I took my time to read and think about the what the photographer had to say about their work. A lot of museums and exhibits in Paris will have some explanations in English, but everything here was in French - this isn’t a complaint but it is good to know if you can’t read French.

There were four main themes to the exhibition Libertés, Égalités, Fraternités and Potentialités.

Some of the photos and themes really stood out, sometimes because it’s something that I have personal experience with, other times because it’s so wildly different to my life. I really enjoyed the range of emotions in all of the different photos. Here are some of my favourites.

The first photo as I walked in really stood out to me. It’s a photo taken at the protest Youth for Climate France in March 2020. We all know that the climate crisis is here, yet governments aren’t doing enough to protect us all, especially the youth. I think it’s important that people are willing to stand up for what they believe in.

The photos around office work and remote work really stood out to me. Work life changed massively for a lot of office workers, myself included. There’s such a contrast to the bland, sterile looking offices with their individual phone booths compared to the work setup in small apartments.

Another set that stood out to me was the students living in their small apartments. I cannot imagine being a student during peak pandemic, the student life that you though you’d have, suddenly disappears, and you’re left in your small apartment, away from friends and family. Classes were done online, not being able to attend any social events, and spending so much time indoors. That, mixed in with the uncertainty of the future - the thing you’re studying for.

There are some photos of people working surrounded by hundreds of boxes waiting to be shipped. Covid had a big impact on online shopping - people didn’t want to, or weren’t allowed to shopping, so ordering online became the way to access certain items. A lot of people started new hobbies during lockdowns some of them required buying new items, some people just wanted the feeling of having something new, and for others it was equipment for remote work. Seeing the amount of boxes was a reminder of how focused we are on consumerism.

Another set of photos that hit me was the children with phones - more and more kids are having phones at a younger age. While there’s a lot of good in technology, it can also have a negative impact. It impacts their creativity, their sleep, their attention span and social skills. During Covid, some schools provided online classes. I’ve had a smartphone since I was 11 but I didn’t have unlimited data. As an adult, I can organise my screen time based on what works for me, but kids don’t know how to manage this.

At the end of the exhibition, I was left with lots to think about. 2020 was a crazy experience, but these photos reminded me that while I live in my world, in my bubble, it’s easy to forget that there are so many other possible lives out there. It’s refreshing to think about all of the different possibilities and to have the reminder that I’m not alone with how I’m feeling.

2020 for me

As for many people, 2020 didn’t go the way I expected it to go. The first two months of the year were normal, I had a lot of different things on like I went to Amsterdam to meet some friends and I watch my first live rugby game - my mum and her partner flew out to Paris to watch the France vs England game. But then March rolled around, I heard the first rumours of lockdowns, thought that it wouldn’t actually happen until it actually did. It doesn’t actually feel like it happened.

Until this first lockdown, I was working in an office five days a week and was rarely in my 23m2 studio apartment that I shared with my partner. The lockdown hit, we both went to working remotely from the apartment and I was put on chomage partiel because the car rental company I worked at has been hit by the lockdowns - people were not allowed to travel so there was no need to hire a car. We stayed in this apartment until December 2020 where we moved to the suburbs to have more space.

Since then, the world of tech has changed massively - I cannot imagine going back to an office 5 days a week, and personally I like the hybrid mix of remote and office based work.

Photos I’ve mentioned:

You can find all of the photos I mentioned via the online platform. Here are the photos mentioned in this article:

I’ve been going to the library for a few months to work on various projects both alone and with friends. I’m pleased I took some time to visit this exhibition before it ends.

Have you been to this exhibition? If so, I would love to exchange thoughts! You can reach me via instagram at @abisummers