YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE
TUNISIE 2011 - 2023
December 17, 2010. The act of Mohamed Bouazizi setting himself on fire sparks a popular uprising across Tunisia, the birthplace of the so-called "Arab Spring" protest movements. Numerous citizen initiatives open up spaces for criticism and mobilization. At the forefront, women get involved and fight for a more equal society. Tunisians reinvested public spaces and fields that were once off-limits: politics, economy, culture, environment, education… But the initial enthusiasm and euphoria of a nascent democracy soon gave way to disillusionment, faced with changes that were still hesitant and fragile.
On one side, youth faces precariousness, unemployment, and police repression against all social protests. Rural areas and central regions seemed condemned to marginalization and informal economy, leading many young people to seek exile.
On the other side, a new generation decide to take action and invests heart and soul into rebuilding their country, post-Ben Ali Tunisia.
This photographic series spanning the first decade of a difficult transition, explores the upheavals of a new generation torn between hope and frustration. It reveals bodies and minds in struggle, oppressed for too long. Amidst the political and societal ferment, I sought to question traces left by the dictatorship, while capturing moments of everyday life that tell the story of the Tunisia that captivated me for so long.
You Will Never Walk Alone is a photographic journey built around portraiture, delving into the questions and hopes of Tunisian youth caught between the scars of dictatorship and the expectations for a better future. Combining the poetry of everyday life with the surrounding frenzy, this body of work immerses us in a society striving to unite and find meaning, focused on this universal struggle for more rights, dignity, and freedom.
