2023marseilleLes Ruchesfrance
la galerie des ruches
A year after the Petit Séminaire estate was torn down, the children and teenagers of Les Ruches photograph, map and tell the story of their neighborhood, then draw the neighborhood of tomorrow.
- formats
- mediums
- place
- marseille · Les Ruches
- partners
- Maison pour tous Bougainvilliers-La Maurelle (community center)
- public presentation
- The exhibition “la galerie des ruches” and sound capsules.
with
Abdallah, Anass, Aurélien, Ayoub, Chérif, Danil, Hakim, Imran, Inès, Issa, Jade, Justine, Kamila, Khemissa, Kheira, Kitam, Lola, Louhiba, Marwan, Mohamed, Moro, Mouadh, Moulay, Myriam, Najib, Nola, Patricia, Safirh, Zakaria
“Here, it’s magnificent, fabulous and… perilous!” In October 2023, with the Maison pour tous de La Maurelle, the children and teenagers of Les Ruches told the story of their neighborhood, perched above the former Petit Séminaire: six blocks of buildings, the garden where flowers, vegetables and fruit are planted, the fighting cocks, Pithi the dog, their mascot, and overhead a big construction crane.
On their map, they traced the way to the Maison pour tous: take the slope, then the stairs, walk over the planks and the stones to avoid the sewer water. Their photos show the neighbors, boxing, soccer, the shops in the center, and the trash they would like to see replaced by flowers.
The “turfu” map imagines what comes next: the return of the ice cream truck, a soccer field instead of the parking lot, a small pool and a barbecue corner in the gardens, fruit trees everywhere and, where the Petit Séminaire stood, a big park, “very beautiful and very clean,” full of poppies, daisies and roses.
mapping
the neighborhood map
Between the yellow buildings, the parking lot; behind them, the vegetable garden with its beds of peppers, chilies and mint; at the bottom, the former Petit Séminaire; on the right, in red, the construction site of the fire station, where there used to be a playing field.
“Our Ruches are 6 blocks of buildings: C1, C2, D1, D2, D3, D4.”
“It’s a 13th arrondissement like no other.”
“There used to be a field over there where we loved to play.”
excerpts from the text written together for the exhibition
collective map: the children and teenagers of Les Ruches
the exhibition
la galerie des ruches, wall by wall
Thirteen panels of titled and described photographs, two of them with wishes for the neighborhood, the “turfu” map, then the exhibition’s large prints.
wall 01
le bâtiment des ruches
I’ve lived here for 14 years and there are 6 blocks.
pigeons et bâtiment
This is D4, the ground floor.
le voisinage
Behind these windows are my neighbors, people I know who are very kind.
wall 02
basket sur un fil
We’re the ones who hung these shoes up there one day.
favela 2.0
Trash piled up at the bottom of the neighborhood.
la route du quartier
You can see the neighborhood in the distance, the construction work, the crane, and a bit of the demolished Petit Séminaire.
wall 03
derrière les ruches hautes
View of one of the upper Ruches buildings from the former Petit Séminaire. The grass is full of trash. It’s sad.
le parcours du combattant
The muddy path makes getting to the neighborhood very difficult.
chemin de pierres
A path of stones so residents don’t have to walk over the sewers.
wall 04
louhiba
Portrait of Louhiba, who comes to Les Ruches to see her grandmother.
ayoub et le coq de combat
A fighting cock in the neighborhood.
surprise
A selfie with a disposable camera.
wall 05
kheira, une grand-mère en or
A grandmother of 9 grandchildren.
habitants du quartier
Portrait of two young people out for a walk.
anass
That’s Anass in front of some tomatoes and lettuces.
wall 06
centroo !
Our place of life and memories <3
bouffe club
We’re always hungry, and they always have stuff to sell!
gradendé
Cheap, and a good result. Nothing better nearby.
wall 07
fight club
We let off steam doing something we’re learning to master.
patate de forain
We have contests to see who can throw the most punches.
big pow !!
Inspired by our favorite actor, Michael B. Jordan.
wall 08
trio
Three portraits of kids from Les Ruches: Mohamed, Ayoub and Anass. Our favorite activity: soccer.
wall 09
la familia
Moulay, Hakim, Aurélien, Imrane and Stéphane.
patricia, jade et louhiba
The three of us at a table. We’re writing a speech.
ying yang
We were proud of our work.
wall 10
le d de l’épicerie
Close to the center, we always come here to get food.
jade au jardin
Jade poses in front of the garden beds.
stéphane
Stéphane is our youth worker; we play games and do activities with him. Behind him is block C2.
wall 11
We’d like flowers behind the buildings instead of trash.
I want the neighborhood to be renovated, because I want white and gray paint in Les Ruches and games for us.
It would be really nice to repaint the facades.
wall 12
To add more color to the neighborhood.
A skate park for us.
A pétanque court in the neighborhood.
wall 13
50 ans
Time goes by, and I’m going by too, because I’ve lived here for 50 years.
peinture
It’s a painting between C1 and D4. We repainted the walls because it brings them back to life.
destinations
These are signs painted by children, with real places and imaginary ones. You can use them to find the important places.
wall 14
carte du turfu
This map shows the future neighborhood of Les Ruches. There used to be an ice cream truck that came by. You could buy candy apples, cotton candy and every ice cream in the world. It livened things up. In the future, we’d like a soccer field instead of the parking lot in the middle of the buildings, room for the ice cream truck to come back, and a small parking area for bikes. We’d also like to be able to get together over meals like we used to. That’s why we’d like a small pool and a barbecue corner to be built in the gardens behind the buildings. There would be fruit trees everywhere, so we can eat when we’re hungry, and a fountain to wash the fruit. Where the Petit Séminaire stood, there would be a huge park, very beautiful and very clean, with a youth center, a daycare and lots of games. There would be poppies, daisies and roses everywhere, because it’s beautiful.
wall 15the prints
photographs and captions: the children and teenagers of Les Ruches
in pictures
photographs and captions: the children and teenagers of Les Ruches
the exhibition
Twenty panels: the neighborhood map, the photographs titled by the children and teenagers, their wishes for the neighborhood, the “turfu” map, the large prints and a collage.
