The 2025 grant for social photography was unanimously awarded to Pierre Faure to allow him to continue his project "France périphérique" (peripheral France), which he began in 2015. He travels throughout the entire country, spending around a year in each region and 150 days a year.

"For ten years, I have been documenting the least affluent fringes of French society, spanning the entire country with the exception of major cities. Through this testimony, I wish to make the living conditions of a portion of the country’s inhabitants visible and tangible. I aim to replace statistics with faces in order to raise public awareness and understanding."

These two sisters live with their sons. They have decided to convert the family farm to organic farming. The delay in receiving (organic) subsidies is causing them great difficulty.
Hauts de France, 2018.
© Pierre Faure

The title “France Périphérique” (peripheral France) is borrowed from the eponymous work by geographer Christophe Guilluy, which addresses the political, social, and cultural issues of contemporary France through the prism of territory. He focuses on the rise of a “peripheral France” that stretches from the most fragile suburban margins of large cities to rural areas, including small and medium-sized towns. He points out that 60% of the population — and three-quarters of the new working classes — now live in this “peripheral France,” far from globalized cities.

In Rambervillers, a town in the Vosges department, one out of three residents lives below the poverty line (INSEE, 2019).
Vosges, 2020.
© Pierre Faure

"I began this work in 2015, after spending three years documenting extreme poverty (gypsy slums in 2012, university hospitals and homeless shelters in 2013 and 2014). I started by meeting people in difficult situations before broadening my scope as I met more people. I am now interested in the working and middle classes.

All my projects involve a long-term commitment, and listening plays a key role, these people have such a need to be heard. I take an interest in each person's background in order to understand their situation, through “free discussions” (I don't record or take notes at the time).

This allows me to build relationships of trust and take photos that convey our exchanges."

This boy lives with his father in an unsanitary house in the countryside. Although he attends school, this isolation deprives him of a normal social life.
Côtes d’Armor, 2019
© Pierre Faure

"From the beginning, I have been focusing on individuals experiencing challenging circumstances, but my photography is not limited to documenting information about these living conditions. Beyond the documentary aspect, it is the human condition that constitutes my photographic subject matter, with all its mystery, shadows, and radiance."

www.pierre-faure.com