I’ve made a new photography zine
Introducing LES CHAISES VERTES : a digital zine featuring 50 photos of Paris' iconic green chairs
LES CHAISES VERTES is a digital zine about one of the most visible icons of Paris: the green chairs. Found in three of the city’s largest public gardens — the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Jardin du Palais-Royal and the Jardin des Tuileries — they’re a true symbol of freedom. When you’re in one of these parks, you’ve got carte blanche to take them wherever you want, face any direction you desire, with as many or as few companions as you wish. Anyone — whether rich or poor, working or studying, housed or unhoused, Parisian or non-Parisian — is free to sit in them and let the world go by.
The result is that every time you visit one of these parks, the scenery is always new. The chairs are always arranged in a unique way, reflecting the desires of the people occupying them. And if you arrive early in the morning, before anyone else has entered the park, the chairs become remnants of the previous night’s activities. Though inanimate objects, they become weirdly human as they attest to how their last occupiers had made use of them. Ten chairs arranged in a circle tell the story of a party; two chairs facing each other depict a reader with their legs up; one chair facing the Eiffel Tower betrays a tourist living a dream.
My fascination with these green chairs is the inspiration behind this zine, which comprises 50 photos of the famous green chairs around Paris between March 2020 and September 2022. I was interested in the idea that even though they’re photos of the same object, you can still get a sense of the city in the background. I shot many of the photos early in the morning before work, but many others were taken just before the park closed for the evening. While people don’t feature very prominently in them, their presence can be felt via the arrangement of the chairs, which remain in the gardens long after the last soul has left them.
You can purchase a digital copy of LES CHAISES VERTES right here.
