Social revolt photography - interview with Jeremie Rozier
Hi Jeremie, you are a french photographer based in Paris. Can you let us know a bit more about yourself how you did start with photography?
I started photography about fifteen years ago, in analog photography, with a favorite subject at the time, railway photography. Then photography has always accompanied my centers of interest: deindustrialisation, architecture, urban violence, social conflicts.
When we look at your work we see a recent focus from urban/post industrial to protest. Can you tell us more about this journey?
Indeed, there has been a refocusing in recent years on social conflicts. However, I think this is fairly consistent with my previous practice. Finally, I always talk about violence, whether it is architectural (with brutalism) economic, industrial, urban or now social and political. And then social movements allow me to include people in my images, which was almost never the case before. My images are also more dynamic, it is the marker of a resistance to modern forms of constraint.
I spotted you on French TV during live protest with "les gilets jaunes" on the Champ-Elysees last year ; the violence was extreme. How do you handle it as photographer to capture moments while not endanger yourself?
Objectively, the violence is not extreme, urban violence is not comparable to scenes of war, it is only fairly agreed confrontations with very codified sequences. What is more striking than the intensity of the violence is its source. The violence is largely asymmetrical in these events. The violence comes mainly from the police, particularly in France. As a photographer, once you know this, endangerment is essential in order to obtain interesting images. You have to be at the heart of events and constantly seek different perspectives, which also allows you to better understand what is happening.
This obviously requires special preparation as a photographer: suitable photo equipment (several cameras and at least a 35 / 50mm and a telephoto lens) and in general a helmet and thick clothing.
I make the choice not to protect myself specially against tear gas in order to be able to evolve among all the actors of the riot, including in the police force (the use of any device to protect against the effect of tear gas is now prohibited in France).
Any projects you are currently working on?
I prepare series on the Parisian suburbs and on the desolation of the landscapes in high mountain. And then I obviously continue my exploration of social revolts, but in film photography now!
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