Exposition "Quartier Guynemer, Jean Bart" de Loredana Marini

This exhibition is the result of more than two years of photographic work by Belgian photographer Loredana Marini.

Initiated as part of an artistic workshop held at the Château Coquelle with students of Septantecinq, École Supérieure des Arts de l’Image in Brussels, and then within a creative residency at the Château Coquelle, Loredana Marini presents a photographic series focusing on the residents of the Guynemer, Jean Bart neighbourhood in Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, an area undergoing urban renewal.

'My arrival in the neighbourhood began in October 2023. Even before going there, I had searched for a long time. I wanted to photograph a social housing estate. It was obvious. This choice also came from my own experience. I have always lived in working-class neighbourhoods.

There was something deeply sociological in this approach for me, but also something personal, almost intimate. Often, I had the feeling that those who talk about these places without ever having lived there know nothing about them.

They know neither the smells, nor the noises, nor the weariness. (…) The first time I arrived on site, it was a day in October. I was dropped off in the neighbourhood. I remember it very well: the warmth of the autumn sun on the brick walls, that low light.

A familiar sensation, as if I had already come here, as if I already knew this place. (…) In this area in transition, it seemed important to me to focus on it. So as not to forget. When I return two years later, I still feel just as alone. A bit like at the beginning.

But today it is real: the buildings are falling, one after another. I often think back to that first day in October. To that light on the bricks. To that walk through the neighbourhood. ' Loredana Marini, November 2025.