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Gilles Favier French. Born in 1955 in Roanne. Lives in Sète. Gilles Favier’s involvement in informative work, especially his relationships with the daily press (Libération, among others), have never prevented him from developing his personal projects regarding his commitment and desire to analyse and question the contemporary world. Determined to build a body of documentary work, he has let himself be led by encounters, giving form to the discovery of characters who hyperbolize the possible. He loves an upfront approach as a direct method for his objectives. This rigorous form of photography gives him freedom to explore other dimensions. He sees himself first as a documentary photographer, a witness, an analyst and an accessory, and affirms the necessity of an unspectacular format of reportage. 
See the photographer's map...
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Portfolio
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Portraits
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Stories
 | Tour de France (part 1) (2010) “The story begins on December 31st. It has to be a France roadtrip in a month. Leaving on December 31st, and coming home on January 31st. Sète is the departure and the arrival town. Why? Because Paul Valery, who is buried here in the “Cimetière Marin”, said that France “is as multiple as the people who lives in”.
The idea was to drive and drive in spite of the snow, the fog, and the rain sometimes. Driving and changing city, region every day. One month, it’s short to draw a country map with a car. We made, my assistant Nicolas and I, nearly 10000 kilometres. Each day a town, and as many fascinating encounters.
We expected to find a France undermined by the financial crisis, but we found... |
 | Tour de France (part 2) (2010) “His idea to observe closely the social reality of a country was the good one. Watching the country in relief, far from headquarters and austere reports, flexible statistics, twisted communications. Of course it’s not France as a whole that Gilles Favier visited. He is interested in cracks and interstices: a France full of roundabouts, half-empty industrial activity areas, majestic landscapes and small lives, or the opposite…”
Didier Pourquery, Le Monde Magazine, 13st March 2010 |
 | Conflict zone workshop for journalists, France (2009) On the occasion of French presidency of the European Union, Defence minister has invited fifteen journalists from all over Europe to attend a " workshop to get sensitive to incured risks when on reportage missions in conflict zones."
These delightful activites occured in the National Centre for Commando training in the region of Pyrénées-Orientales.
The invitation advised to come along with warm clothes, medical certificates and effort electrocardiogram. |
 | Dublin (European Works), Ireland (2008) For my generation, that of the baby boom, the arrival of the Europe of 12 was a breath of fresh air. Europe now numbers 2 . Travelling, working or studying abroad is no longer an ideal, it’s an everyday thing for many young Europeans. Europe, its founding principle, even its existence – these cannot be placed in question. We can simply
ask, “Yes, but which Europe?” This was the question which drove me during my stay in Dublin. The Republic of Ireland has left behind endemic misery. As a “Celtic Tiger” the country is no longer looked upon with pity. Yet the Irish sometimes find themselves regretting that their famous pubs have become “cafés”, and that the Guinness
brewery has been reduced... |
 | Thanks Boss (2006) What happens after a closure, a restructuring, or a redundancy plan is announced? Oftentimes, a long-term fight led by a trade unionist, a factory sit-in to demand fair treatment, or sometimes a muted rebellion and the destruction of the tools of the workers’ trade. Each time, it’s different, but each time it tells a very real story: the gradual extinction of a certain industrial world. A world that has structured whole regions and ensured the livelihood of entire villages. A muted disappearance. However, these stories recount so much more than labour and economic change. They reveal solidarities, but also disappointments. They relate the central role that the factory and the workshop play... |
 | Koko, a Beninese village (2006) It is a place in Africa, in Benin to be precise, inland. It is a place but above all people, faces, and behind those faces, a culture, a history. It is 4 hours away from Cotonou, the Beninese capital. It is a big traditional village inhabited by 5000 souls and surrounded by sacred forests. It is also a kingdom since there is a king, but also a Prime Minister and an administration who is opposed to the animist rites, the power of tradition and to the Babalawos (seers). The name of the village is Koko, no electricity, far from the touristy coast, and only reachable by a rough unpaved road. But in Koko also lies the memory of slavery |
 | The Kayapos, Brazil (2006) At the end of March 2006, 200 Kayapos tribe chefs gathered their forces to protest against the construction of a hydrolic dam in Amazonia.
The Belo dam should have been built on the river Xingu, where 7000 Kayapos live on its banks. For those latter, the dam means flood, moving, deforestation and pollution.
They have already failed a project a first time. It was in 1989. For five days, 600 of them, with 40 other ethnic groups have demonstrated in Altamira streets against the building of a hydolic complex. The five dams should lead to a flooding of 18000 acres of forest, forcing the exile of many Indians. Under the internaitonal pressure, the Brazilian government and the Electronote... |
 | Brazil, Bahia (2004) Bahia is the name of a federate state in Brazil. Located in the north of the country, the area is one the high place of cultural mix that gives its charm to the country. Reminiscence of its own history, the Bahia state was the first colonised area of the country. Gilles Favier's photographs make feel this mix of different traditions, different ways of living. With every picture, one is sent to a generous world where dance as religion or football are ways of life. |
 | Marseille, La Renaude district (2004) A district, or rather an enclave, very close to Saint-Jérôme, not far from la Rose. One of these spots where nobody goes. A sordid street ends there, with on each side stone blocks and darkened wall from so many burnt cars.
At the Renaude, there are the top and the bottom of the district. In a nutshell, at the top, there are the "Arabs" and at the bottom the "Gypsies". The ones in buildings, obviously gloomy, the others in little houses-garages that spill all over;
Between 1993 and 1994, I have made several trips there, trying to catch a statement of the place. Things were not easy, and to be accepted as a photographer, i needed to respect rules that were imposed to me from those who... |
 | Angola, Kuito's healing (1996) Since 1961, there have been many fights on this former portuguese settlement large territory. First fights were against colonial troups, but since the independance in 1975, Angola is the place of an action-packed civil war .
Kuito is the symbol of that endless conflict. Soon after he refused to valid the election result in 1992, the Unita besieged the town. An endless siege with extremely violent attacks. Kuito which was the favorit resort place of portuguese settlers, is now licking its wounds as she can. It's hard to bring raw materials, the railway was destroyed and many roads are still closed. Anyway, in Kuito or in anymhere in Angola, civilians are savoring these first months of calm.... |
 | Northern Ireland (1981-1993) (1993) Belfast forever
Hunger strike of the Republican prisoners during summer 1981 then the tragic death of Bobby Sands and his friends put Belfast in the international media scene's limelight. And for quite a while...
At first sight, the Northern-Irish capital looks like any other modern cities: construction sites everywhere, ghettos on the outskirts of the town and even sometimes tourists storming some districts on the double-decked red buses to admire para-military frescos of Shankill Road or Falls road, but how many of them are guessing the difficulty and the particularity of Belfast?
Belfast is like a puzzle and a fair experience of the geography of the city is needed to know on... |
Books
 | Merci Patron Après l’annonce d’une fermeture, d’une restructuration ou d’un plan de licenciement, que se passe-t-il ? Souvent, un combat de longue haleine mené par un syndicaliste, une occupation d’usine pour réclamer un traitement digne, parfois une révolte sourde et la destruction de l’outil de travail. Des situations chaque fois différentes mais qui, mises bout à bout, racontent une réalité : la disparition d’un certain monde ouvrier et industriel. Un monde qui fait vivre des villages et des régions entières. Disparition qui se fait dans une relative indifférence, sans trop de vagues. Text by: Muriel Grémillet Publisher: Au diable vauvert (2007) 190 pages ISBN :2846261288 
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 | Jusqu'ici, tout va bien Noir. Une voix calme se fait entendre. VOIX OFF HUBERT. - C'est l'histoire d'un homme qui tombe d'un building de cinquante étages. A chaque étage, au fur et à mesure de sa chute, il se répète pour sans cesse se rassurer : " Jusqu'ici tout va bien, jusqu'ici tout va bien, jusqu'ici tout va bien... " Un petit flash électronique au milieu de l'écran puis une image vidéo plein cadre se stabilise. L'image d'une planète - notre planète. Venant de derrière la caméra, un cocktail Molotov plane pour venir se briser sur la planète qui n'est qu'une photographie collée sur un panneau publicitaire. L'affiche s'enflamme instantanément. En off, nous entendons les bruits d'une émeute, des cris, des vitres brisées, des explosions de gaz lacrymogènes. L'image de la planète qui brûle se mêle à des reportages d'émeutes. Sur ces images commence le générique. Text by: Mathieu Kassovitz Publisher: Actes sud (1999) 193 pages ISBN :2742705619
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Awards
2007 - Best documentary Award
Corporate
 Biography
Biographie de Gilles FavierPrix et bourses 1996 Grant of the Délégation aux Arts Plastiques (DAP) for The Cheerleaders 1995 Grant of the Délégation aux Arts Plastiques (DAP) for The Small Sizes 1992 Grant of the Délégation aux Arts Plastiques (DAP) for La Renaude, distric of Marseille Expositions 2008 Angkor Festival 2007 Merci Patron, Angers Festival 2007 Africa/ Brazil, Quai Rosa Gallery in Sete - France 2007 80+80, photo_graphisme, VU’ Gallery and Anatome Gallery – France 2006 VU’ par Robert Delpire, VU’ Gallery – Paris - France Bibliographie 2006 Merci Patron, Editions Au Diable Vauvert 2004 Tabou brisé, autour du suicide des adolescents, Editions CétàVoir 1995 Jusqu’ici tout va bien, Editions Actes Sud 1993 Histoire de l’immigration, agenda, Editions Plume Corporate Michelin Conseil Regional d’Île de France EPAD Dalkia Proskaeur Rose Comité des Régions de l’Union Européenne Contact us... |
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