The first time I met a resident of 5 Rue Keller, in the Bastille district of Paris, she shared with me the history of the building.
Around twenty Malian families were living there in extremely difficult conditions, occupying a squat that had fallen into severe disrepair.
It was 1997, and at that time the residents were actively fighting to be rehoused.
That encounter became the starting point of the project. I first went to photograph the African families who were still living inside the building, and later searched for other families who had already been relocated elsewhere. Little by little, the work expanded into a broader portrait of this community and its history.
I eventually created around twenty family portraits inspired by Malian tradition. These images sought not only to document the people themselves, but also to preserve a sense of identity, family bonds, and continuity during a period marked by uncertainty and transition.
For this project, I decided to work entirely in colour, making it my first substantial body of work using colour photography. The images were produced in 6×6 format with my analogue Rollei camera, a choice that shaped both the rhythm and the visual language of the series.
Over the course of six months, I immersed myself in the daily lives of these families. This extended period allowed me to observe their environment, routines, and relationships more closely, creating a deeper connection with the people I photographed.
The complete series consists of around 60 photographs documenting their way of life. Beyond the social and historical context, what remained most striking to me was the beauty and dignity of the people I met.
About Carole Bellaiche
Carole Bellaiche began photographing at the age of 13, turning her camera toward girls her own age and creating what would become her first portraits. These early experiences marked the beginning of a lifelong relationship with portraiture and observation. Shortly afterwards, photographer Dominique Issermann introduced her to actors and actresses, opening the door to the artistic and cinematic world that would later become central to her work.
Deeply connected to cinema, Bellaiche developed a photographic practice centred on portraiture, with actors, actresses, filmmakers, and directors becoming some of her favourite subjects. Over the years, she photographed many of France’s most celebrated cultural figures, including Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Deneuve, and numerous others, creating an extensive body of work that reflects both intimacy and continuity.
Her photographs have been widely published in magazines, notably through her long collaboration with Cahiers du Cinéma, where she worked as a photographer for around fifteen years. Alongside her editorial work, her personal projects have regularly been exhibited at Le Mois de la Photo in Paris, as well as in galleries, establishing an ongoing dialogue between commissioned portraiture and her own artistic research.
Recent years have brought renewed attention to her work through publications and exhibitions. Two books and two exhibitions at XII Gallery have been dedicated to different periods of her photographic journey. One project revisited her long relationship with Isabelle Huppert, gathering twenty-five years of portraits made between 1994 and 2019, and was published by Éditions de La Martinière in 2019. The second centred on her book 25 Bd Beaumarchais, released by Revelatoer in 2021, a deeply personal work bringing together photographs taken during the first thirteen years of her life in her childhood apartment.
Throughout her career, portraits and places of everyday life have remained at the core of her practice. Her work repeatedly returns to people, domestic spaces, memory, and the subtle connections between identity and environment.
She is currently preparing a new project based on the adaptation of a book by Georges Perec, revisited by Yannick Haenel and scheduled for publication by Gallimard Editions in October 2026.
In recognition of her contribution to culture and photography, Carole Bellaiche was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2021. [Official Website]
