Culture et Justice – workshops with Julien Bonnin et Jeanne Bouillard

Photographer Julien Bonnin and illustrator Jeanne Bouillard led a series of artistic and educational workshops at the Grasse remand center, in coordination with the Probation and Reintegration Service (SPIP 06). The residency, organized by the Mougins Center of Photography, received support from the French Ministry of Culture / DRAC PACA through the Culture and Justice program.
The participants, a group of young adult men, were invited to question the nature of images: how they are produced, circulated, and how they shape identity and personal narratives. How can one tell one’s story differently? How can one reclaim one’s image and imagine other possibilities?

These workshops provided a hands-on approach to the fundamentals of image-making: light, exposure time, development, the relationship between negative and positive, composition, and the notion of trace. Each participant was able to experiment with forms of projection, détournement, and reinvention within a collective setting that encouraged exchange and dialogue. The workshops also included moments of intuitive writing, spontaneous drawing, and associative games.

Julien Bonnin (born in 1983) is a French photographic artist whose work lies at the intersection of documentary practice, visual research, and experimental imagery. Rooted in social and political reflection, his practice questions systems of representation and the visual constructions of reality.
Jeanne Bouillard (born in 2000) is an illustrator who approaches the book as a bridge between personal diary and documentary. Through drawing, text, and printmaking, her narratives explore our relationship to social interactions, whether intimate or anonymous.