Backstage in the French Ministry of Finances with Guillaume Herbaut, in a complex built by architects Paul Chemetov et Borja Huidobro, shot for Le Monde Magazine.

Une journée au sein de l'Unité de Soins Palliatifs de l'hôpital Paul Brousse.

Le 12 mai 2008, un séïsme d'une magnitude de 7,8 sur l'échelle de Richter frappe la région du Sichuan chinois. Le bilan de plus de 50 000 morts compte de nombreux écoliers. Un an après, retour à Dujiangyan.

Voyage entre Téhéran et  la mer Caspienne, Mai 2009.

Barbuda, Dominica or Saint Kitts are independent English-speaking islands of the West Indies. Unlike the French West Indies and their sluggish economy, populations over here thrive in an economy based on tourism which benefits a local trendy population decisively turned towards the USA ...

Big Eropolis is France's largest erotic show and exhibition. During this three-day fair taking place in 8 000 square meters or so, about 15 000 visitors can find sex shops, striptease lessons, pornographic shows, screenings of X-rated movies and lap dance during the whole weekend.

Life here is worth nothing. More than ten years after the peace agreement which put an end to the longest (36 years) and most bloody civil war in Central America, the violence has not abated in Guatemala, remaining the major preoccupation of the population. Guatemala has not finished counting its dead.

Chaque année, la société russe Rosenergoatom chargée de l'exploitation des centrales nucléaires en Russie organise le concour de beauté Miss Atome.

Drug cartels war in Mexico

The war declared to drug lords by Mexican president Felipe Calderon two years ago, caused a without precedent explosion of violence in the whole country.

The site of AZF chemical factory in Toulouse exploded on September 21, 2001, causing 31 deaths and about 2000  wounded.

As the trial opened on February 23, 2009 at the criminal court in Toulouse, Oeil Public flash-backs on Samuel Bollendorff's and Guillaume Herbaut's reportage as correspondents for Le Monde 2 at the time on the scene of the explosion.

Black virgin pilgrimage in Mexico City

December 12 is one of Mexico’s most important religious holidays. 

Mexican borders

Jerome Sessini spent one month in Mexico documenting its civilians including the border crossing between Mexico and USA in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez.

From utopia to disaster

On January 8th  1959, Fidel Castro come  into free Havana triumphing. He ends up about seven years of Batista despotic regime. At that time Fidel he’s acclaimed by thousand of Cubans who greets their liberator.

Event on the Pont des Arts in Paris, december 10, 2008, for the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration.

After the conflict in Georgia and Ossetia, Crimea holds its breath. Territory along the Black Sea, depending on Ukraine, Crimea is predominantly Russian, and would like to return to the bosom of Russia proclaiming its autonomy.

The end of august 2008 saw the worst sectarian violence to date in the Indian state of Orissa, the epicentre being the district of Kandhamal. Unrestrained hordes of Hindutva (a xenophobic ideology supported by several hindu extremist groups) activists organised a methodical anti-christian pogrom.

L'année 2008 de L'Oeil Public.

THE SQUATTERS OF THE PARC MONCEAU

Facing the housing crisis, students and young professionals identify and requisition buildings in Paris beautiful neighborhoods.

It is a luxurious squat for young people who are broke, but don't look like ordinary illegal occupants. Most are students and have small jobs. On Rio-de-Janeiro square, in the very select eighth arrondissement of Paris, they are thirty to occupy in a "bourgeois" way five floors Haussmann buildings. Nothing to do with an alternative place. The outbreak of real estate over the action of the "Jeudi Noir" groupe originated the "Parc Monceau squatters." In ten years, the number of evictions for unpaid rent was multiplied by 2.5.

Y's Tokyo

A day with with Yohji Yamamoto in Tokyo

CUBA in suspense.

For almost 50 years the Republic of Cuba was led by Fidel Castro, starting when he took position as the head of the revolutionary army on January 1, 1959. The “Lider Maximo” passed the power on to his brother Raul CASTRO last February.

They are doctors, entrepreneurs, lawyers... Like Michelle Obama, the wife of the Democratic candidate, they are black, live in Chicago and make a dazzling career. An upward mobility which they want to be a model for their community.

Slavery in France was abolished in 1848. Yet it has not disappeared. 334 cases of slavery were reported in 2007 by the CCEM (Commitee Against Modern Slavery).Poverty,discrimination and social exclusion feed all forms of modern slavery. The most frequent form concerns domestic slavery.

Two groups have recently become very visible in the US due to the presidential campaign, the American blacks and the Muslims.
With Barack Hussein Obama possibly becoming America’s next president, some light is being shed at what it means today to be black and/or Muslim in the US. But the whole story away from the stereotypes and clichés is rarely revealed. Muslim Americans are among the most well integrated and affluent of immigrant groups in the US, but ironically also one of the most feared.

For many Americans, the introduction to Islam came on a bright September morning in 2001.  The effect on America's more than seven million Muslims was immediate and lasting.  Suspicion of people of Muslim origin has subsequently grown in much of the Western world with little distinction being made between extremist Islamic fundamentalists on the one hand and incredibly diverse Muslim communities on the other. The military debacle in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ferocity of armed resistance and suicide attacks against U.S. troops and their allies furthermore fueled American fears that Islam is a threat to the West.

When American Muslims became objects of fear and their relative invisibility disappeared, many who had never defined themselves as Muslims had no choice but to see themselves as one. Thus for American Muslims a lasting conflict arose between their religious believes and their loyalties to a country that had become home.

Even though cultural stereotypes about Muslims are increasingly finding their way onto Hollywood’s cinema screens, the realities of being a follower of Islam in America, since  the War on Terror, are rarely discussed. Whether they are Yemeni, Iraqi, Palestinian, North-African, Pakistani or Indonesian, whether they live in big cities or small towns in the United States they are all part of the same story: that of the Muslim-American.

The Joda region is at the heart of the exploitation of iron in Orissa, India. It contains the largest iron ore deposits in Asia. Several large mining companies want a piece of the action. In this region, daily life is a hell on earth.

After 30 years of civil war, Angola is a ruined country.Landmines litter the countryside,47% of the population is aged 14 or under and women outnumber male survivors of the war by 10 to 1. But since 2007,Angola has edged out Saudi Arabia as the leading provider of crude oil to China while 70 % of its population lives below the poverty line.
 

 Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. established in 1783. Dickinson was founded by Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and named in honor of a signer of the Constitution, John Dickinson.

A report on Baghdads’ coed University of Engineering.Despite the inter communal violence which is tearing Irak apart,Baghdad University has remained a place of peace and freedom where  young men and women of all religions can meet without being subjected to the pressure of radical militias.

The Baghdadis exhausted by five years of war want to live. Ending the civil war and militia. While the fights ravage Sadr City, 15 kilometers away, residents of the capital are having small pleasures. The Baghdadis have tea again on Café terraces, and the wedding ceremonies are back in Babylone Hotel. All these little things were inconceivable only a few months ago.

Copsa Mica is one of the most polluted city in Europe. Until 1993, two factories were responsible for the pollution. Today the only one left is Sometra which produces by chemical or electrolytic process, colored metals from different ores. The Sometra factory rejects sulfur dioxide and other heavy metals (cadmium and lead) in the atmosphere.

Since 2006,and for the first time,a descendant of the native population is in charge of Bolivia.A choice which has stirred the pride of Andean peasants who have been oppressed for decades,yet has revealed the split between the races which divides the country.

Under UN protection since June 1999, the Albanians of Kosovo declared their independance on February 17,2008. Since 1999 more than 200,000 Serbs have fled Kosovo and 22,000 more have abandoned their apartements or houses to find refuge in nearby village enclaves. And while albanian villages are draped in flags and banners, resembling the aftermath of a national holiday, the serbian ghettos yield to misery and desperation.

While downtown Liverpool is changing drastically to become the capital of European culture Toxteh district seems to be fossilized, abandoned. 

Caritas has been in Aceh and Nias island since 2004, working on a group of humanitarian projects. It also works for the rehabilitation of former rebels of the GAM in the civil society.

In 2014,visitors from around the world will come to Sotchi,in the Caucasus,for the XXI Olympic Winter Games.A pharaonic project.A biathalon and cross- country skiing complex,bobsled runs,roads,metro lines;all to be built.

Between January and October 2007, there had been 546 racist attacks in Russia provoking the death of 56 persons. 150 « extremist » groups are in action in Russia. Reportage in the Slave Union organization, supporter of a Russian national socialism.

Beatings, confiscation of land, administrative pressure, corruption, fabricated reports by experts... Xiditou's militia guarantees that families remain silent.

Since the 2003 beginning of the conflict in Iraq, the neighboring country of Syria has received about one million five hundred refugees. 
The majority of Iraqi refugees are living in Damascus and its surrounding suburbs. Saida Zaynab, on the outskirts of Damascus, is known as “Iraq Street”, as more than 350,000 Iraqis have moved into the area over the past few years. Most of them are living off of their savings. They come from all confessions - Shias, Sunnis and Christians – and from all social origins. They fled from the chaos and daily violence, torture and kidnappings they were suffering in their homeland. As they found shelter and security in Syria, they were also met with a certain precariousness and the wrench of uprooting.

The Securitate was the secret Romanian police under the communist era. One of its main goal was to eradicate the dissidence in Romania. Created in 1948, with the help of the KGB, it consolidated a regime based on terror: deportation, murders, tortures of dissidents. Classified for a long time, the archives of the Securitate are now available for consultation by the Romanian citizens.

Those who sleep at night, no need to go there. In Dakar, night has a meaning. Jazz clubs, nightclubs, each place has its own time. Night in Dakar has a good future. After the glory of the Senghor years, the world festival of negro arts and clubs with mythical names (the Fouquet’s, the Keur Samba…), after the recession of the 70’s, the drought, the end of the international aids, after the boom of the 80’s, Dakar found the rage and sense of party again.

It is said that the Amazons were tribes of women warriors in the East of Ukraine, in the Donesk area. They are back nowadays in the Carpathian mountains.

One week in a French supermarket.

For the French ELLE magazine.

The streets of Guatemala City, Guatemala’s ultra-violent capital, now rank among the most dangerous worldwide. In addition to the ruthless war waged between armed gangs (“Maras”), narcotrafficking and near-cultural violence (weapons are sold openly) cause an average of 20 deaths per day in the Guatemalan capital.

China is exploiting the Mekong with eight dam projects.
However for tens of millions of residents downstream, China's efforts to manage the Mekong also threaten their way of life.
In China two dams are completed, keeping the water in China, depriving Thailand, Lao and Cambodia of their silt, their fishes and their rice...

For TIME Magazine.

In the midst of repeated violence between Israelis and Palestinians, local Mediterranean beaches abound with nearby residents in search of relaxation and fun. At odds in daily life, they find similar pleasures along the same coast, bathing in the same sea. When crossing the Erez checkpoint marking the entrance into the Palestinian Territories, one faces a violent contrast.

Today, Chechnya is rebuilding under Kadirov’s iron hand. In less than a year, Grozny, the martyr city has totally changed and looks like a new city.

In may 2007, Palestinian refugees try to escape from the fights opposing the Lebanese army to the militias of the group Fatah Al-Islam entrenched in Nahr Al-Bared's Palestinian refugee camp which population is estimated up to 40 000 persons.

Sparkling skirts, thundering soundtrack and sexy sway of the hips...The majorettes are definitely back and make their eternal baton spin around all France.
Reportage in the country of queens of rythm and villages.

For ELLE France.

Since 1993, close to 400 women were murdered in monstrous conditions in Ciudad Juarez. 10 years after the first victim’s murder, discovered in the desert between the United States and Mexico, the authorities still cannot set out those responsible for the massacre, or give a convincing explanation for the tragedy.

Ambitious, gigantic and under international scrutiny, India has a plan: to become an economic giant among nations. After centuries of submission under the British Empire and fifty years of sluggish independance,the asian elephant has awakened. Today the economic reforms begun in 1991 are clearly visible.

For the French daily newspaper ''Le Monde'', Michael Zumstein follows the French electoral campaign.

For the French daily newspaper ''Le Monde'', Michael Zumstein follows the French electoral campaign.

On July 12, 2006, following the capture of two Israeli soldiers by the Hezbollah Shiite militia, Israel has launched during 34 days, an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon. An Israeli land offensive that started on August 9, had met a strong resistance of the Shiite militiamen. The toughest fights happened in the village of Bent Jbeil, at the border. Return in Southern Lebanon seven months after.

A rally to commemorate the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Beirut. February 14, 2007.

Forgotten of the economic growth, three fourth of the Chinese farmers live under the poverty line.
They have to migrate inside their own country, becoming mingongs, migrant workers without working license.
Exploited, displaced, without any social protection, without any education, this low cost workforce, at the mercy of the corrupted powers start again everyday, at the risk of their life, the ''Chinese economical miracle.''

Commissioned by the French Ministry for Culture & Communication (National Center for Visual Arts).

Unfairly accused of inoculate Libyan children with the virus of AIDS in a hospital in the Nort East of the country, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor stagnate in Kaddafi's jails.

Night wanderings in the cities, villages and countryside of India. Capture an essence of India, the one of its "streets." Indian street show is generous. One work, drink, washes...one makes many other things outside.

In Paris close Northern suburb, facing Saint Denis’ Stade de France (the stadium) is located the Fratellini circus academy, the most recent circus academy in Europe.

The war in Iraq has driven nearly 4 millions people from their homes.
As many as 2 millions have fled the country, seeking safety abroad-and robbing the nation of its best and brightest, in what Refugees International calls the fastest-growing crisis in the world. As detailed in the stories that follow, the burden of coping with this exodus has fallen most heavily on Iraq's neighbors, such as Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, who have absorbed the vast majority of exiles. An inside look at those Iraqis in their new life, away from their land and too often, in total resignation.

In Russia, more and more people join « youth organizations », with friendly slogans and huge fairs. But under the so called spontaneity, everything seems to bear the mark of the Kremlin master.

How to seduce a rich man? In Russia, the coach has a simple answer:
No speaking, bringing out the body and nailing the fish.
In Moscow and in the most big Russian cities, this kind of business is increasing.
Welcome to Vladimir Raovski's seduction school.

A digital essay.

Summer 2006. One farmer commits suicide every eight hours in the Vidarbha, region in eastern Maharashtra, the cotton belt of India. This tragic situation went from 122 suicides in 2002, 622 in 2004, to more than 1300 in 2006… leaving behind it entire families in a profound despair and hundred of villages very worried. A crisis with pure political origins, and an outward sign of a deep agrarian crisis unequalled since the Green Revolution of the 70s.

Mexico: A world without men

"So far from God, too close to the US." By this fatalistic expression, Mexicans summarize their living conditions. Numerous Mexican villages are populated almost exclusively by women, children and the elderly, as men immigrate to the United States for work.

Shanxi province is responsible for one third of the coal production countrywide. From North to South, all the way from Datong to Linfen, all cities and surrounding countryside are devoted to coalminig industry. The greed for energy consumes its servants ruthlessly, even though they once were heroes of Maoism: only for last November, over 200 coalminers died in Shanxi province. They are usually ‘Mingongs’, illegal migrant workers. They have run away from their countryside home towards the coalmine Eldorado where they risk their life to provide an income to their family.

Commissioned by the French Ministry for Culture & Communication (National Center for Visual Arts).

Somaliland is an unrecognized de facto state located in northwest Somalia in the Horn of Africa. On May 18th, 1991, Somaliland people declared an independent Republic of Somaliland that now includes five of the eighteen administrative regions of Somalia, roughly the region between Ethiopia, Djibouti , Gulf of Aden and the former Italian Somaliland, an area of about 137,600 square kilometres. The capital of Somaliland is Hargeisa. Although not recognized by any government, this entity has maintained a stable existence, due in part to the dominance of a ruling clan.

They are raised by their grandmother or their older sister. Their parents have left for Italy to get their family out of poverty. So the children grow up looking for landmarks in these Romanian villages emptied from their young adults.

Portraits of Natives in the traditional outfit during a traditional ceremony in Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. April 2006.

Evo Morales Bolivia

Since 1990, young women disapear along Highway 16, a road crossing British Columbia. It has been 15 years that the investigation doesn't go anywhere.Some women are found dead on the side of the road, some are still missing. The road of tears has become a symbol for the British Columbia natives.
Disgust by the public power's indifference, they want justice to get interested in this gruesome mystery.

« We the Cossacks exist since the beginning of times, we are a free people and we have always been fighting for our freedom against the Ottoman Empire, against the Polish, then against the Russians. The communist regime used to oppress us, but since 1991, we get out of the shadow. »

While in the train, you can come across off-duty but armed military, on-duty military extorting passengers, women giving birth, pastors preaching, and illegal voyagers dangerously installed on train car roofs. The tracks aren’t cared for, and the train often derails. The train keeps on chugging in spite of it all. To sum it up, the “Kambelembele” is a metaphor for the Democratic Republic of Congo itself.

Ten days with a police squad in Paris XII...

For Libération - June 2006.

Video

At Huoshanzi School - Guizhou province - China.

Video

At Huoshanzi school - Guizhou province.

From '' They just turned 80 ''
by Samuel Bollendorff.
Video 16/9. 52 mns. Mk tv Production.

The movie relates a year in the life of the Geriatrics department of the Houdan hospital.

Disney, Hasbro, Mattel… Mickey, Spiderman, Barbie… They produce most of them.
They are called mingongs, « farmer-workers ». They come massively from the rural regions to work in the factories of the coastal regions of China. There are about 200 millions of them.
This unexpensive labour force, without social security, without access to health care or education right for their children, produces, 12 hours a day and seven days a week, 75 percent of the toys sold worldwide.
They earn 30 Euros a month.

Commissioned by the French Ministry for Culture & Communication (National Center for Visual Arts).

This street with a rich past stigmatizes today the xenophobic behavior and the resentments of an exasperated population.
A strong feeling of surrender emanates from its inhabitants.

Purity Balls are an initiative of the Clearinghouse Abstinence Organisation in South Dakota, and represent one of the concrete examples of sexual abstinence among American youth. The balls are exclusively reserved for young girls escorted by their fathers.
The promotion of sexual abstinence before marriage is one of the many wars waged by the ultraconservative religious right.

A Silver Ring Thing evening in Charleston, West Virginia, march 2006. The Silver Ring Thing is a teen abstinence program.

Albany, January 2006.
Return to Shkodra. The city hasn’t changed: beaten-up roads, the electricity cut off several times a day. It’s cold.

Lukashenko, the authoritative president of Byelorussia, has decided to impose local beauties in advertising and fashion shows. Using the pretext of protecting the models and putting an end to the traffic of women, agencies are harassed and foreign brands are obligated to photograph Byelorussian beauties for their billboards.

About the ''SISTERS IN LAW'' Documentary. A film by Florence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto.

Ready-to-Wear. paris - Winter 2006.
Backstage by Samuel Bollendorff...

 for LE MONDE

Official visit to Xinjiang.

As Tibet province, Chinese have occupied Xinjiang for fifty years.
In expectation of the 2008 Olympic Games,
Chinese authorities organize official photography campaigns.

Following the November 2005 riots in the French suburbs, freelance writer Gert Van Langendonck and photographer Karim Ben Khelifa decided to rent a flat for two months in one of France's most notorious projects, 'Les Minguettes' in Lyons, in order to get a sense of what led to the outbreak of violence.

A groupe of teenagers of the evangelical church called God's Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, gets together to read and study the Bible. The organization is typical for an evangelical assembly : pyramidal structure, grouping by affinities and interests out of the Sunday cult. This is how the permanent contact with the biblical principles on everyone's lives is maintained and fed.

Founded by the Nigerian pastor Sunday Adelaja 12 years ago in Kiev, the Embassy of God has become the biggest evangelical mega-church in Europe, with almost 25,000 members in Kiev alone. Present in 32 countries, with 425 churches, the goal of the church-goers here is to attain a thousand churches in 2007.

For the 4 to 5 millions muslims in France, where Islam became the second largest religion, the country has 1600 registered mosques. They are the proof of the immigrant history. Thrity years ago, they were build near immigrants working and living pplaces, largely in suburbs of the largest cities like Marseille and Paris. Slowly until now, Islam in France can be find everywhere. Larger mosques have been build and muslim communities can be find everywhere.

One month after the passing of Katrina, debris and abandoned cars haunt the streets of New Orleans. Its inhabitants had fled the city. On september 24, some weeks after Katrina, Rita arrived off the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. In a few hours, she had an-nihilated a region situated farther west, between Texas and Louisiana.

Rootless and restive, young Muslims in Europe are increasingly turning to religious extremism. An inside look at the threat from homegrown militants.

Pastor Ted's New Life Church of Colorado Springs is one of the most important evangelical congregations of the city ( a mega church of approximatly 11.000 members ). A congregation becoming very influential in the USA because of its modern ways, adapted to nowadays religious needs and behaviours. New Life Church is turned towards young people – the essential leaven of changeover ( all evangelical congregations own their “Youth Ministry” ) - aware of the importance of preparing future generations on a biblical basis.

Kenyan town faces loss of livelihood after Sudan peace deal: Lokichokio has thrived on business generated by humanitarian aid organisations but soon they may move out.

Magarpatta Cybercity, a mirage in India's landscape, 200 km far from Bombay by the brand new three express road highway. The new Indian middle classes fight over this little piece of paradise representing Western happiness long caressed by their parents and which satisfies their thirst of comfort.  

To escape from poverty, thousands of latinos ends up in Tapachula, border city in Chiapas, south Mexico. It is the first step of a long trip towards USA, where dreams and destiny are broken.
For many illegals latino, the american dream became a nightmare in Mexico.

Located on the borders of the Appalachians Mountains, land of coal and hunting games, Mullens is a small town settled between a railroad and a river. 1800 souls, seven churches, no one outside.

The week when Pope John Paul II died. From april the 2nd, announcement of his death, to april 2005 the 8th, day of the funeral.

In Rome and its suburbs during the mad week of John Paul II's death - The logistics

Beijing - Shanghai - Chinese miracle.

few days with the Chinese nouveaux riches.

Hiroshima, 60 years later.

In Nagasaki, the US Bomber’s mission was to destroy the port and industrial sites where Mitsubishi warships were being built. But the pilot mistaked the ordonnance and dropped the A-bomb 3 kilometers before, on Urakami.

New town of Marne la Vallée - An Urbanistic Project in the east suburb of Paris.

An assignment from the City Planning of Marne La Vallée, near Paris. Febuary 2005.

Afghanistan is the worlds largest supplier of heroin:75% of worldwide consumption.Above and beyond the international repercussions, it is at the local level where the drug does the most damage.The number of addicts rises in tandem with increases in production,a hitherto unheard of problem in Afghanistan.

Eastern Ukraine. December 2004.

Over the months, the rebel city of Falluja was dreaded by the American troops in Iraq. The city, located 50 km west of Baghdad in the Sunni triangle, is the symbol of the Iraqi resistance but also of the most radical form of Islam which calls for the death of infidels.....

The days of the elections with the democrat students from Dickinson college. Carlisle, USA.

On 12/11/2004, tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered inside the Muqataa, Arafat's destroyed office compound to welcome  the coffin of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Palestine - Ramallah, Muqata'a. 2004 November 12th

They were housewives or students, mothers or shopkeepers, who decided to join the ranks of the "Forces Nouvelles" (rebel forces).  For two years now they have added a kalashnikov to their female outfit.

Nadjaf besieged during the summer 2004.

The Orange Revolution. Ukraine. November / december 2004.

Between 1940 and 1945, the Nazis occupied the polish town of Oswiecim, etablishing the concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz where more 900 000 people were extermined. Before the war 12 000 people lived in the town, 7 000 of whom were jews, 60% of the total population.

The silence of AIDS in Russia, in Africa, in Malawi and Uganda and in Brazil.

The migrant Roma population is hard to quantify. They are maybe a few thousands in the country. A great majority of them live in shameful and deplorable hygiene in shantytowns in the middle of our cities.

In October 2003, the intensity and pace of insurgent attacks began to increase. Finally, at the end of October, a series of four simultaneous suicide car bomb attacks on the Iraqi police and the International Red Cross, quickly followed by a sharp surge in guerilla attacks, ushered in an insurgent effort that was termed the “Ramadan Offensive,” as it coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Attacks that were increased to nearly 50 a day, along with a series of helicopter downings, resulted in a U.S. death toll of 82 for the month of November with 337 wounded in action.

Gumball 3000's sixth edition brought it some 5000km over six days, on an itinerary encompassing Paris Marrackech and Cannes.
Gumball 3000 : an illegal rally for the rich people.

High-class clubbing among the happy few in Paris, into very selective private parties.

West Bank, Gaza strip, 2004.

SILENCE HOSPITAL
6 years in the day-to-day routine of some of France's hospitals.
Maternity, Psychiatric, Geriatric and Emergencies...

10 000 people are affected by vendettas in the North of Albania, living shut away for fear of reprisals from the opposing family. 1000 children do not leave home and no longer attend school. 2000 women have lost their husbands in settling of scores.

Villages of India are taking action faced with the growing threat that weighs upon earth’s most precious resource, water.

In October 2003, the intensity and pace of insurgent attacks began to increase. Finally, at the end of October, a series of four simultaneous suicide car bomb attacks on the Iraqi police and the International Red Cross, quickly followed by a sharp surge in guerilla attacks, ushered in an insurgent effort that was termed the “Ramadan Offensive,” as it coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Attacks that were increased to nearly 50 a day, along with a series of helicopter downings, resulted in a U.S. death toll of 82 for the month of November with 337 wounded in action.

Along with 50 or so other members of ETA, Maïté Aguerre's son has been held in Fleury Mérogis prison for more than four years.  As far as Fléury Mérogis may be from the Basque country, every Friday, this retired schoolteacher travkes more than 2000 kilometres for visits that last no more than an hour.

In October 2003, the intensity and pace of insurgent attacks began to increase. Finally, at the end of October, a series of four simultaneous suicide car bomb attacks on the Iraqi police and the International Red Cross, quickly followed by a sharp surge in guerilla attacks, ushered in an insurgent effort that was termed the “Ramadan Offensive,” as it coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Attacks that were increased to nearly 50 a day, along with a series of helicopter downings, resulted in a U.S. death toll of 82 for the month of November with 337 wounded in action.

The magic of urban night, when the negative film gets married with mankind's light.

To put an end to the violent fights between Hemas and Lendus in the city of Bunia, the French army commissioned by the UN intervenes to disarm the fighters.

Caen Prison.
70% of the inmates have been convicted for sex crimes.
Sentences range from 10, 15 or 20 years up to life...

For LE MONDE.

In a large part of Brittany, the water provided by the public service has become unsuitable for human consumption due to agricultural policy, amongst other things. The inhabitants of Brittany are the biggest consumers of bottled water in France.

Until the fall of the Iraqi regime on April 9, 2003, the members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party keep the media under pressure, claiming that the victory will be theirs.....

Big dams are no longer advocated as monuments of progress and modernity, since new light has been shed on their social and environmental consequences. The Indian case, along the Narmada river.

The Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq, the Second Gulf War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing conflict which began on March 20, 2003 with the United States-led invasion of Iraq.

The main rationale for the Iraq War offered by U.S. President George W. Bush, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Spain José María Aznar and their domestic and foreign supporters, was the allegation that Iraq possessed and was actively developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Israël - Tel Aviv. A Shabbat holiday, a few kilometres away from the fighting.

MEXICO'S UNTOUCHABLES
Since 1998, the Alamos, a special anti-crime unit, modeled after the American elite SWAT teams, was launched in Mexico City.
 Their methods are often controversial and some groups point to violations of Human Rights. Indeed, the group's interventions can often be brutal and it can act without a rogatory commission. The members of the team defend themselves by underlining the efficiency of their work, and most of all, their integrity at a time when the majority of Mexico's police has fallen into corruption.

Dans les années 60 cette émirat se résumait à presque rien : du sable, une petite crique enclavée, des routes défoncées et du pétrole.Sachant ses reserves pétrolières limitées, l’émirat a tout misé sur l’hôtellerie de luxe. Pour ce faire, rien n’est trop beau ni trop cher.

Lhasa - Tibet.

China has occupied Lhasa since 1959. After the Dalai Lamas' government was sent into exile, the Chinese authorities transformed the Potala Palace into a
museum. Since then the city has been transformed by bulldozers and shovels, repopulation programs...and a new disregard for human-rights.

For French ELLE Magazine

April 26, 1986: Block N° 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power station explodes.
A 30 kilometre zone around the reactor is evacuated, including Pripiat, the city built to house the power station's workforce.
To rehouse the population, the Soviet government decided to build a new town 60 kilometres away: Slavoutich.

Since the end of the fights, in June 1999, three fourth of the Kosovo's Serbian community have left in exile. The remaining minority, facing the retaliations from the Albanese minority, lives cloistered in enclaves, under the protection of NATO's militaries.

Tokyo is hot tonight...

The word Balkan originates from two Turkish words meaning blood and honey. The media have already sufficiently exploited the blood aspect, therefore during my trips to the region I chose the part of the bee. In an attempt to discover youth I feel I have uncovered delicate flowers emerging from a hard and brutal townscape.

The ENDA association controls the school made by and for the Senegalese. This school provides many night classes to accomodate children and adults who work during the day.

In May 2002, after four years of war, the humanitarian barge BOBOTO II was going upstream of the Congo river from Kinshasa to Kisangani.
The different N.G.O that initiated this trip wanted to demonstrate that the river was now navigable and the business, vital for this part of the country, was again possible.

Hospital daily life from an insider's view, after a ski accident.

Whether sponsored or not, doing little jobs here and there, on the podium or living far from it, pleasure is upheld as the founding principle in their relationship with the Mountain. Jipé and Jimmy are real snowboard champions, they succumb to the competitive spirit only to earn a living.

Fetishism is nowadays seen less as an illness and more of a "scene". The majority of participants see it as a festive and uninhibited erotic game.

In every fetishistic party, you will find a backroom or an underground space... Some parties go easily without any dance-floor, prioritizing intimacy. Taking pictures then is almost impossible. Unless you are extremely ''discreet''.

The annual event of this parisian fun fair called "Foire du Trône", at Bois de Vincennes.

They lived around Chernobyl. Many worked for the nuclear power station, a symbol of the Soviet people's "mastery of the machine". A town was even built for them: Pripiat- 48 000 inhabitants - 4 kilometers from the Ukrainian power station.

2000 october. Gaza strip and West bank at the begining of the 2nd intifada.

For the renovation of the housing of the Cité des Courtillières in Pantin, the city hall has assigned Michael Zumstein on a series of reportages on the daily life of the ghetto housing estate.

In June 2000, Kisangani, the third biggest town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo witnesses violent fighting between Rwandan and Ugandan forces. Until recently these were allies, but today's combat has drawn them into the struggle for control of the diamond market.

In February 2000, the Senegalese chose Abdoulaye Wade for Président.
The power that had stayed in Abdou Diouf’s hands since 1981, changed camp.
The "Sopi" (change in Wolof language) gives a huge hope to the population of this former French colony.

August 1999, West of Pristina, Obilic. There are about 1500 Roma under the protection of an international task force. The inhabitants of the region think they have been carrying out orders for the Serbian extremists during the ethnic cleansing led by the militia in the Serb Kosovar conflict. Now themselves victims of systematic retaliations from the Albanians back home, these people have been put together there by the UNHCR. Tired, they suffered mentally and don’t have anymore hope.

In april 1999, Kosovo Albanians flee from Kosovo during the NATO air strikes.

Two years after the liberation of the Democratic Republic of Congo by Laurent D. Kabila, another rebellion, supported this time by neighbouring Rwanda, spread to eastern Congo.
In 1998, it progressed quickly and reached the strategic town of Kindu.
By raiding and murdering amongst members of the Banyamulenge community, the rebels use the same methods as the regime they are trying to topple.

With about two million members, the Roma are the biggest community of the world. After the fall of Ceausescu’s regime, hundred thousands of settled Roma found themselves without housing or resources. Today, some considered as privileged ones, do the tasks denigrated by the Romanians. For all the unemployed others, there is only poverty left. Days and nights, on Cluj-Napoka’s local dump yard, about 50 Roma families move and sort the 250 tons of garbage thrown daily by endless stream of trucks.

Small commune of 80 inhabitants in the Gers, Avezan is located on a territory of less than 600 hectares. Most of the Avezanians are retired farmers. Only a few are still working.

Unobtainable suburb fields, friends, the iced water in the cloakrooms : joyfull moments in muddy Sundays.
Here, without budget or leaders, one plays to keep going and win Val de Marne’s Second Division Championship. 
Play and be together. A simple force given by the F.C. Panam team every Sunday.

A few kilometers from Johannesburg, Germiston and his half-breed township. 3 000 persons live there.

 In 1988, in the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaïdjan, territory just a few kilometres from Armenia, a conflict between Armenians and Azerbaïdjanis began. After a seven years war, the economic blockade imposed by Azerbaïdjan and Turkey resulted in the exhaustion of energy resources and halted all of the country's economic activity.

In the middle of the 50s, driven by the extreme poverty in High and Low Egypt, farmers left their lands for Imbaba, the Eastern neighborhoods of Cairo. Scattered by the police, they are parted in six sectors around Cairo. Ezbet El Nakhl is one of the neighborhoods where the « zabbalines » live.

Former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko used to continually repeat the phrase: "Before me there was chaos, after me the flood". In 1996, thirty-five years after its independance, the beginnings of Zaire's unavoidable war are apparent in severe abuse of wealth, corruption and tribalisation. The country was renamed Congo in 1998. This journey took place before the collapse.

Created in the middle of the 80s by Minister Ernst Siebert, the « Sune Egge » center is a reception place made for drug addicts. About 70 persons per day find Methadone or selective cares in the outpatient department. These who need more important cares are welcome in a medicine department. Twelve beds always occupied allow those terminally ill to die in dignity.

In Russia, the social treatment of the homeless people is radical. The ones not able to prove they have a home are put in special imprisonment places called « priomnik ».