The Chêne Pointu housing project, where riots began in 2005 following the deaths of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, two teenagers of Maghrebian and West African descent who were electrocuted while fleeing police. Clichy-sous-Bois, France
In the peripheral neighborhoods of France’s banlieues, migrant families navigate postcolonial legacies, higher rates of unemployment, and structural inequality. France’s integration system requires migrants to culturally assimilate while prejudice persists, leaving communities caught between exclusion and belonging. Yet these communities are also spaces of creativity and resilience that shape contemporary French culture. Documenting his friends and family, the photographer – born to Cambodian refugees – portrays lives in which community and solidarity are the clearest markers of identity.
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