JTF (just the facts): Co-published in 2024 by Roma Publications (here) and Le Bal Books (here). Hardcover (23 x 28 cm), 88 pages, with 116 black-and-white photographs. Design by Roger Willems. In an edition of 2000 copies. (Cover and spread shots below.)
Comments/Context: The work of the French photographer Marine Peixoto often looks at the habits and rituals of the people around her. Her earlier projects examined days at the beach with her mother (in €4 per day), a retirement farewell party (in Giant Paella), and a village celebration (in Local Festival). Each documents how we build up our own personal existence in a given environment.
In May of 2020 (during the pandemic), Peixoto was invited to photograph people working out in the playground in the Parc de Bercy in Paris. The public workout park is a place where one can do sports activities outdoors at no cost. Everyday people come here to train and find their community. Medhy (who initially approached her) is one the people behind a number of projects and initiatives working to transform the site into more than just a sports ground. While people at the Bercy Street workout were doing push-ups and pull-ups, Peixoto picked up their energy through an intensive photo shoot. As Peixoto worked on this project, her practice then took on the rhythm of the ground, and the series was recently published in a photobook titled Bercy Street Workout Photographies 2020-2023. With this project, she won the 4th edition of the Le Bal/ADAGP award for young creation, and the work was later exhibited at the Le Bal.
Bercy Street Workout Photographies 2020-2023 is a hardcover book, relatively thin and light. A black-and-white photo of a weight plate at 26 kg takes up the entire front of the dust jacket with a thin white border around it, while the photo on the back depicts a close up of a fan in a similar manner. The design feels both direct and poetic. The title and the artist’s name appear on the spine in bold black font. The book opens to chili red endpapers, providing contrast to the otherwise black-and-white visual flow. Most of the images appear in the same size as the photograph on the cover, but there are some variations that add additional dynamism. The page numbers are elegantly placed under the images. The book easily opens flat and overall is very pleasant to hold and browse.
The book opens with a view of Parc de Bercy along the Seine. It then moves to formal portraits of people Peixoto met there, making the point that the people and their community are the central focus of her series. One spread pairs two square shots showing a busy workout moment as men do their push-ups, boxing, planks, weights, etc. A couple of pages later, four photographs make up a spread – a close up of a shoe, a row of four phones live streaming a workout, and two cakes celebrating members of the community.
The routines of people who come to the park to exercise consist of repetitions of movements, and in a way, Peixoto approached her project like a version of sports training. The daily practices of art and sport push us to achieve set goals. The energy of Peixoto’s book is built through editing and sequencing that mimic the rhythms of training, going between quiet resting moments and picking up the intensity to reflect the dynamic of “pushing”, as these men exercise and sculpt their bodies.
There are plenty of thrilling pairings in the book. One of them is the shot of the Eiffel Tower glowing in the darkness placed next to a photo of a young man exercising in a moment when his arms are wide apart and a part of the exercise machine is above his head in a similar shape. In another spread, a close up of shadowy tree bark is juxtaposed with a close up of a flexed arm.
Another set of nine images shows men’s ribbed abs, all shot from the same distance, filling up the entire frame. Those abs are a symbol of hard work and pride. The book closes with a collection of portraits of athletes. They look straight at the camera, proud of their bodies and scars, sometimes blatantly displayed and photographed. We can definitely empathize with these young men and their physical achievements, in the same way that Peixoto spent three years relentlessly photographing them.
In the end, Bercy Street Workout Photographies 2020-2023 is an unpretentious and subtly elegant publication, enlivened by thoughtful sequencing and editing. It is also quietly poetic – a small, self-contained project, offering a welcome glimpse into the life of an overlooked urban community.
Collector’s POV: Marine Peixoto does not appear to have gallery representation at this time. Collectors interested in following up should likely connect directly with the artist via her Instagram page (linked above).
