At Chêne-Pointu, an exhibition traces a piece of the history of Clichy-sous-Bois

Architectural photographs of the towers, texts, objects and faces of the inhabitants: an exhibition directed by the writer Eric Reinhardt opens Saturday September 30, for one month, at the Chêne-Pointu shopping center, another way of observing the urban renovation of this emblematic district of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis).

In the former teleshop of the shopping center, the exhibition begins next to the booths, still in their original condition, and in which visitors can read and listen to texts.

As you wander around, photographs (signed Philippe Chancel, Naoya Hatakeyama, Géraldine Lay), a comic strip, and a film are revealed.

At the back, a small space has been taken over by the local artist, Phemina, who in addition to photos of residents has collected objects placed in dialogue with the family photos of this Clichoise.

“We start from the common space, with photos of the architecture of the neighborhood, to something more intimate,” comments exhibition curator Margaux Gillet.

Other photographs are exhibited in two other shops and the solidarity dojo of this shopping center doomed to disappear.

At the origin of the four-year project "Clichy-sous-Bois MéMOIres", the desire of the former socialist mayor Olivier Klein, in office from 2011 to 2022, to document the transformation of the neighborhood.

“He told me that he did not want to give the population of Chêne Pointu the feeling that we could raze the buildings with complete impunity while disregarding the inhabitants,” recalls Eric Reinhardt, artistic director of the exhibition.

The writer, who spent four years of his childhood in Chêne-Pointu, brought together around ten artists to "fix the memory of the neighborhood as it is today" and "to meet this population that 'we don't usually look'.

Complemented by photographs of the specific architecture of the neighborhood, several times a film set, and those of the inhabitants, young and old, immortalized at the hairdresser, in the doctor's waiting room, playing...

The mix of disciplines (photographs, texts, drawings, etc.) offers a plurality of points of view on the working-class neighborhood.

Since 2004, a huge urban renovation plan has been underway in Bas-Clichy, with the gradual demolition of more than 1.200 housing units in one of the most degraded co-ownerships in France.

“I have worked in large institutions and on a human level this project has done me a lot of good. We are going back to the basics of why we do this”, confides Margaux Gillet, delighted that the residents are interested in it and recognize themselves in certain photos .

The exhibition, free, will begin on September 30 and close on October 28.