The exhibition presents the result of two years of reporting carried out by Philippe Grollier. The 40-year-old French photographer won the FIDAL Documentary Photography Award for his committed work on Northern Ireland. The €20,000 in grant money have been helping him complete his project over the course of two years.
For 15 years, he has been documenting this country, whose wounds, inflicted by a deadly conflict, have yet to fully heal. After his series entitled Peace Process, created in Derry in 2007, and his Bonfires series on sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants, Philippe Grollier started work on the Peacewall series. He photographed the “peace walls” splitting apart neighborhoods along the outskirts of Belfast, where houses are equipped with bullet-proof windows and are also took interest in the new generation born after the 1998 peace agreements.
The recent vote in favor of the Brexit is likely to disrupt these peace agreements, as European subsidies will no longer be granted. The photographer wandered the roads along the border with the fear of seeing those checkpoints reappear, reminiscent of troubled, bygone days...
FIDAL
FIDAL, the number one independent business law firm of France, pursues an active culture-promoting policy oriented toward photography. The firm also acts as a patron for major institutions such as Jeu de Paume or festivals such as Rencontres d’Arles. What’s more, it is behind the creation of the FIDAL PHOTO Awards, which distinguish both documentary photography (FIDAL DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD) and the work of young talents (YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD).
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