In Fromont\u2019s tightly framed, chiaroscuro portraits of the young skateboarders who\u2019ve called dibs on its many ramps and curbs, the gathering spot transforms into a dramatic stage where meditative faces and bruised torsos bathe in the French capital\u2019s harsh summer light. \u201cSpending time there, I quickly realised they are its main inhabitants, in that they\u2019re always present, no matter what\u2019s going on in the city or the world,\u201d Fromont tells Dazed, adding that she initially set out to portray the place, not the skateboarders. \u201cI call them the Princes of the Square \u2013 as boys vastly outnumber girls \u2013 because they have this performative side where they\u2019ll show off a little for the daily passersby who snap pictures of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The notion of resistance, both individual and collective, has been a recurring thread throughout Fromont\u2019s body of work, most recently in L\u2019amour seul brisera nos c\u0153urs (2022),\u00a0intended to make up for the under-representation of lesbian love in art history, and Except the Clouds (2018),\u00a0about the turbulent revolts that rocked Athens and left residents contemplating a world in ruins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In\u00a0R\u00e9publique, resistance is conveyed via the figure of the young skater throwing himself into the unknown, apprehensive about what comes next, and in the act of repurposing public structures for playful, non-commercial pursuits. Also, according to Fromont, resistance comes in the radical possibility of softness itself. \u201cGiven all the uncertainty youths currently face about the future, choosing gentleness is a radical act,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey\u2019re not raising their fists or shouting slogans. They\u2019re engaged in a quieter, more poetic kind of resistance, expressed by their lifestyle. I was really drawn to that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fromont\u2019s portraits recall the work of time-honoured chroniclers of adolescence such as Gus Van Sant<\/a>\u00a0and British photographer Paul Graham, whose End of an Age<\/a> series encapsulated the fragile and at times solitary moment when youth begins to slip away. \u201cI wanted my pictures to evoke [the skateboarders\u2019] grace and vulnerability. There\u2019s something moving about their visible scars and melancholic gazes, while at other times their posture suggests nonchalance and self-assuredness. That contrast really rang true to me.\u201d<\/p>\n A key difference between Van Sant and Graham lies in Fromont\u2019s total eschewal of posed portraiture. Her labour-intensive process involved shooting under the blazing sun with a hefty medium-format Mamiya film camera. She also opted for a 50 mm lens, taking fairly wide-angle photographs she would then crop in post-production to isolate and enlarge compelling details. \u201cPhysically and mentally, it was quite the ordeal,\u201d she says, explaining why the analogue-only project took three years to complete. \u201cTo 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.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She compares her \u201cfailure-plagued\u201d process to that of the skaters, who often accumulate intense wipeouts and faceplants before successfully landing a trick. \u201cAs a photographer, all these variables \u2013 sunlight, subject movement, camera mechanics, sheer luck \u2013 need to align, and the same goes for them,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey need good technique, smooth ground, grit and a moment of grace to nail their manoeuvres. Otherwise, they dust themselves off and try again. That mindset speaks volumes about this generation, and it ultimately fuelled my persistence to keep returning to the square.\u201d<\/p>\n Fromont doesn\u2019t shy away from expressing her admiration for the pensive skaters and young onlookers who fill her frames. The way her stark light sculpts their expressive features feels like a natural extension of the square\u2019s bronze figures and stone statues watching over them \u2013 something she acknowledges was deliberate. \u201cI sought such visual harmony in my selection of images,\u201d she recalls. \u201cTo draw out that kind of timeless, marble-like quality in the faces and bodies. It\u2019s my way of saying that this beauty really exists. It\u2019s not fabricated; I simply captured it.\u201d<\/p>\n R\u00e9publique\u00a0is published by Chose Commune and is now available here<\/a>. An accompanying exhibition will show at the Institut pour la Photographie<\/a>, Lille, from 18 September 2026 to 16 January 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"B\u00e9rang\u00e8re](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1451935.jpeg\")
Photograph B\u00e9rang\u00e8re Fromont<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"B\u00e9rang\u00e8re](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1452021.jpg\")
Photograph B\u00e9rang\u00e8re Fromont<\/p>\n