France Brut
A Miniature Odyssey
September – October 2025
France Brut is a photographic exploration of scale, materiality, and the human (or post-human) condition. Over the course of three weeks, we traveled across France by train, carrying nothing but backpacks containing our clothes and three hand-crafted "mediator-characters."
The Mediator-Character
The project centers on the "mediator-character." Standing at just 30 cm tall, these puppets act as a bridge between the viewer and the monumental scale of Modernist and Brutalist architecture. By placing a small, tactile figure against a concrete giant, the architecture transforms. It becomes both more "out of this world"—emphasizing its alien, sculptural forms—and more approachable, as the characters inhabit and "soften" the space.
As a duo of artists, our process is a dialogue between two worlds: Maria designs and builds the posable stop-motion puppets, while George captures them on analog film. Maria documents the journey through digital photography.
The Journey
Our route was a curated map of French architectural history, that turned towards 20th century modernism and utopia.
Nanterre: We visited the iconic Tours Aillaud (also known as Tours Nuages or Cloud Towers). Their organic shapes and frescoed facades provided a dreamlike backdrop for the characters.
Le Havre: We photographed at Le Volcan, the cultural center designed by the Brazilian master Oscar Niemeyer.
Bordeaux & Pessac: After stopping at the MÉCA (a modern "media deck" by BIG), we visited Le Corbusier’s Quartiers Modernes Frugès in Pessac—a radical experiment in social housing.
Montpellier: We captured the characters at L’Arbre Blanc (The White Tree), a contemporary building whose striking balconies mimic the "brut" spirit of vertical growth.
Firminy: A highlight of the trip was staying overnight at the Unité d'Habitation and exploring the church and stadium designed by Le Corbusier.
Grenoble & Lyon: In Grenoble, we saw the honeycomb-patterned Les Trois Tours (Île Verte). In Lyon, we moved away from concrete to explore the historic Traboules—the hidden staircases used by 19th-century silk workers.
Marseille: We stayed at the legendary Cité Radieuse (Unité d'Habitation), where the rooftop provided the ultimate stage for our mediators.
The Côte d’Azur: We concluded our journey in Anthéor, Cannes, and Nice, documenting the characters against the Mediterranean light before exhaustion finally set in.
