Drancy-Auschwitz: Pitchipoï

Two french photographers, Jean-François Lami and Simon Daval, carried out, in 2013, a photographic project whose final result was compiled and is available here.

The objective of both was to record in images the path taken by the Jews between the concentration camps of Drancy (France) and Auschwitz (Poland). The route involved about 2,000 km of railroad, 50 stations, with an average duration of 53 hours of travel.

This crossing through the city-passageway, seen from inside a vehicle – in this case, the trains – makes us think with our eyes. Fábio La Rocca, in the book Cidade em todas as suas formas (2018), proposes the following reflection:

it is symptomatic, for example, in urban mobility, that the look of the urban landscape is done from the inside: that is, behind metro glass, bus, train, cars… and even the overexposure in the windows of cafes and restaurants. In this sense, glass becomes a medium, a canvas that stands between us and urban materiality. Because of this symbolic intermediation of the glass-screen, we become spectators of the development of urban dailylife. (La Rocca, 2018, pp. 158-159)

The project seeks, in this way, to be configured as a resource to rescue a sensitive memory. What city-passageway was seen during this journey? Which city-passageway can we never repeat?

ANO

2013

AUTORES

Jean-François Lami & Simon Daval