"Guynemer, Jean Bart Neighborhood" by Loredana Marini
Dunkerque
This exhibition is the result of a photographic project spanning more than two years, led by Belgian photographer Loredana Marini. The project began as part of an artistic workshop held at Château Coquelle with students from Septantecinq, the École Supérieure des Arts de l’image in Brussels, and later as part of an artist-in-residence program at Château Coquelle, Loredana Marini presents a photographic series focusing on the residents of the Guynemer and Jean Bart neighborhoods in Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, an area undergoing urban renewal. “My involvement with the neighborhood began in October 2023. Even before going there, I had been searching for a long time. I wanted to photograph a public housing neighborhood. It was obvious. This choice also stemmed from my own experiences. I’ve always lived in working-class neighborhoods. For me, there was something deeply sociological about this project, but also something personal, almost intimate. I’ve often felt that those who talk about these places without ever having lived there know nothing about them. They know neither the smells, nor the sounds, nor the exhaustion.(…) The first time I arrived there, it was a day in October. I was dropped off in the neighborhood. I remember it very well: the warmth of the autumn sun on the brick walls, that low light. A familiar feeling, as if I’d been here before, as if I already knew this place. (…) In this neighborhood in transition, it seemed important to me to take a closer look. So I wouldn’t forget. When I return two years later, I still feel just as alone. A bit like I did at the beginning. But today it’s real: the buildings are coming down, one after another. I often think back to that first day in October. To that light on the bricks. To that walk through the neighborhood. To that moment when I realized that this neighborhood, in some way, was also telling my story.”—Loredana Marini, November 2025.
