Bérangère Fromont's République Photo Book

Photographer Bérangère Fromont has published a photo book and launched an exhibition titled République. The work features elegant, tightly framed portraits of the young skateboarders who congregate at Paris's Place de la République.

Fromont tells Dazed she initially aimed to portray the square itself, a historic gathering point for protests and celebrations. She quickly realized the skateboarders were its constant inhabitants. "I call them the Princes of the Square - as boys vastly outnumber girls - because they have this performative side where they’ll show off a little for the daily passersby who snap pictures of them," she said.

A Quieter Form of Resistance

The series moves away from the square's political history. Instead, it focuses on a more ambiguous resistance embodied by the skaters. Fromont sees resistance in their act of repurposing public structures for play. She also finds it in their choice of gentleness.

"Given all the uncertainty youths currently face about the future, choosing gentleness is a radical act," she explains. "They’re not raising their fists or shouting slogans. They’re engaged in a quieter, more poetic kind of resistance, expressed by their lifestyle."

Her portraits highlight contrasts. They show visible scars and melancholic gazes alongside postures of nonchalance. Fromont wanted to evoke both grace and vulnerability. She draws a parallel to chroniclers of adolescence like Gus Van Sant and photographer Paul Graham.

A Labor-Intensive Process

A key difference is Fromont's rejection of posed portraits. Her process was physically demanding. She shot under a blazing sun with a heavy medium-format Mamiya film camera and a 50 mm lens.

The project took three years to finish. "Physically and mentally, it was quite the ordeal," she says. "To return every day in 40-degree weather with four kilos on my back, when it had been two weeks since I last captured anything good, was a struggle."

She compares her "failure-plagued" process to that of the skaters. Both require many variables to align for a successful result. This shared mindset, she says, fueled her persistence.

Timeless Beauty in the Square

Fromont expresses admiration for her subjects. The stark light in her photos sculpts their features. This visual treatment creates a harmony with the square's bronze and stone statues.

"I sought such visual harmony in my selection of images," she recalls. "To draw out that kind of timeless, marble-like quality in the faces and bodies."

The book République is published by Chose Commune. An accompanying exhibition will be held at the Institut pour la Photographie in Lille. It runs from 18 September 2026 to 16 January 2027.