On October 2005 Zyed Benna and Bouna Traore, 15 and 17 years respectively, died after being electrocuted by an electric generator while hiding from police in their neighborhood, Clichy Sous Bois, in the north of Paris. A pitched battle against police flares up, rapidly spreading to the 42 kilometers of suburbs which surround the French capital.

Shortly all the other suburbs of the most important French cities would also burn.

The blurred and decontextualized images of looted shops, cars in flames and uncontrollable violence triggered the start of this work. One year later I decided to go there to try to better understand a reality that was only being shown when the outbreaks of violence were attractive enough to get onto the media agenda. In 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2012 I went to department 93 in Paris, one of Paris’s largest suburbs.

This work seeks to reflect the way of life of a group of friends that I made during my trips to the Paris Suburbs.