I’ve been living in Paris for 15 years now, and always at the border. What I call the border is the highway known here as “The Périphérique“, a circular road crowded with cars all around the clock. This highway has always been a frontier, a way to define who is in and who is out.

In fact, it was built on an ancient wall. In the 19th century, the President of the Council Adolphe Thiers had it build all around Paris to protect the city. It lasted until 1929, and the “Périphérique“ was built on it in 1973. Today, this place suffers a bad image: it is definitely built for cars, not for human. The distance are too big, the concrete is everywhere, the drivers rule. But as a neighbour to this road, I spent years walking in this area, and I discovered that a lot of people are using this border, and even live here. So I decided to explore this zone, with my camera, an analog mamiya 7 II, and many rolls of Portra 400 films. I started a documentary project. It’s been three years in the making now, and I’ve rediscovered this place. “Borderline“ has been selected as a “coup de cœur“ from the portfolios review in La Maison Européenne de la photographie in Paris.

www.thomasbaltes.com

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