The back

The back intrigues, questions, speaks … Who hides behind this imposing silhouette? What is the face of this elegant woman? How could life use it so much? The backs often express without their knowledge the life course of each passer-by that I meet in the streets. Voutés, flexible, slender, curved, fragile, stiff they express what we are.

The way we move allows the backs to express themselves. According to the individual’s approach, the backs speak to us differently. The language of the back appears at the very moment when a person starts moving. Sometimes the backs cheerily dodge in bodies still valiant. Sometimes, they oscillate painfully, as attracted by the earthly attraction in old people who walk with a heavy step. Sometimes they drown themselves in clothes that are too big in some passers-by who tiptoe around like dancers. Heading down the subway or on the way to work, it often happens that Parisian backs avoid any interaction with the outside world and wander like ghosts in the city. We also meet the back of the back who do not really posture, backs looking, who look busy, back of pedestrians who have their phone to the ear.

Extensions, dangling, tired, stretched arms bring back their final expression. For example, walkers with their arms behind their backs make us think they are in their thoughts. On the contrary, arms crossed in front of us in winter, make us feel how much the backs you see are petrified by the cold.

The backs say a lot about the passers-by to the photographer.