Shane Lynam – Contours

Imagine a country that is circular, a 250-metre wide strip that curls around Paris: the kingdom of fortifications. The landscape is not monotonous; planes, hills and rivers flow over each other across the earth. Bowl-shaped hollows, saturated and full with water from the Porte de Sevre attract fishermen, while the yellow-tinged grass of the river banks set the scene for leisurely walks.

‘La zone et les fortifs’, Madeleine Leveau-Fernandez, from ‘Banlieue Rouge 1920 – 1960’.

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Up to the 1960’s, la banlieue was seen as an area of great hope; it was expected to offer an alternative to its center, a more equal, utopian society. What remains of that project today?

Contours is a study of the landscape that can be found in the suburbs of Paris; it looks at how it is used by its citizens and managed by its state. It tries to get past the stereotypes that have come to be associated with the territory and document it as a region in its own right, not only as a periphery. The work focuses on a selection of natural areas, which illustrate the relationship between the landscape and those that form it.

The project is being developed in the context of a two year MA in Documentary Photography at the School of Art, Media & Design, University of Wales, Newport.

The final work will be shown in October 2012.

 

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More images, the other parts of the Contours series and other interesting projects on Shane Lynam’s website.
An interview with Shane’s works has been featured on LPV Magazine, issue 3.