Marseille, France, February 2016. Photo by P. Garret.
I met this man in Marseille on a cold February morning. A Roma from Romania, he came to France to escape poverty and is now living with his family in a squat in the neighbourhood of Le Panier. As he was unable to find a job, he makes a living rummaging through waste containers in search of old electric wires, from which he extracts copper that he sells by weight. The man chose his own pose for the portrait. The photograph reconciles the irreconcilable, showing the dignity of a man who rummages through garbage.
Pascal Garret et Bénédicte Florin