Exhibition by William Keo, French-Cambodian photographer based in Paris. His work focuses on stories related to his family history and their refugee past; migration, social exclusion and inter-community intolerance.
Of this project, the artist tells us:
“The location of the Olympic Games is never a coincidence, and in 2024 they will take place in the poorest region of France, Seine-Saint-Denis, district 93, where I live. For years, I have been chronically documenting the social and cultural structuring of this neighborhood, considered by researchers to be the “Observatoire of inequalities”, such is the extent to which social violence is exacerbated there.
The arrival of this event is already transforming the area, and the first signs are that the state is trying to pacify the region by moving immigrant populations to other districts further away. Poverty, demonstrations against police violence, riots, the police, drug trafficking, prisons, hospitals, immigration, subculture and youth, are the chapters that make up this project.
This curated selection of my overall “Hostile” project will paint a portrait of a youth with multiple identities, from third-generation immigrants to gentrification, on the eve of the Olympic Games that will impact and transform the area forever.”
William Keo
https://www.william-keo.com/
