Photographer Bernard Jolivalt is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘|photo|situ|’. To see Bernard ’s body of work, click on any photograph.

Paris (France)
“Even the atmosphere of public places betrays the despair and isolation of private consciousness; even the busily filled space is measured in dead times.”
(Raoul Vaneigem)

Paris (France)
“The irreversible instinct to make things matter.”
(Raoul Vaneigem

Paris (France)
“So empty, to scream, to scream.”
(Guy Debord)

Audresselles (France)
“The palace of other days
Of yesterday and tomorrow”
(Noir Désir)

The project |photo|situ| examines the city and its spaces. The complete project, constantly evolving, comprises over 140 photographs accompanied by brief quotes; these are drawn either from seminal situationist authors such as Guy Debord and Raoul Vaneigem or from authors with no connection to that movement, whose ideas nonetheless resonate with the images.

|photo|situ| draws upon concepts from the Internationale Situationniste, a movement active from 1957 to 1972 which highlighted mechanisms that remain relevant today: the society of spectacle, the alienation through consumerism, while promoting an unified urbanism (the art to transform the city into a space that fosters freedom, play, and creativity) and ways to make life exciting.

In the |photo|situ| project, each photograph, are captured during “dérives” (drifts) undertaken in the situationist spirit. They act as a fragment of reflection about the disintegration of urban spaces, lost illusions, and underlying revolt, as well as on the aesthetics of “infra-ordinary” — and thus non-spectacular — places.

A selection of 30 photos was exhibited throughout the month of June 2026 in Bagneux, near Paris.

Paris (France)
“Urban planning will suffice to maintain the established order.”
(Raoul Vaneigem)

Boulogne-sur-Mer (France)
“The joyful unification, surrounded by desolation and terror, at the tranquil center of misfortune.”
(Guy Debord)

Paris (France)
“Talk to me about forms, I am in great need of worries.”
(Paul Éluard)

Boulogne-sur-Mer (France)
“These transit zones trace an atopic geography where rootedness is impossible.”
(Christine Jérusalem)

Paris (France)
“The walls and the prepared green corners assign new limits to dreams and to thought.”
(Raoul Vaneigem)

Biography

I was born in Paris, where I still live today. For a time, my life has been divided between writing and photography. Short stories of mine were published in a prestigious magazine when I was very young. I worked as a freelancer for the press and publishing sectors from 1977 to 1984. I was awarded the Larousse Grant for Young Professional Photojournalists.

After a while during which I temporarily set aside photography in favor of the computer industry, I worked as an editor for various magazines, launching a flight simulation magazine, writing and translating books about computing and photography. Then I returned to photography in the early 2000s.

To date, I have written nearly thirty books on photography, mostly technical, though some are artistic. I translated into French a hundred books from famous photographers. For ten years, I was a regular contributor to the magazines Le Monde de la Photo and Profession Photographe.

I currently practice urban exploration and street photography. I have been interested in the Situationist movement for several decades. Hence, as a photographer, I practice since a long time the “dérive” (drift) and the “détournement” (reuse, rerouting) in the spirit of that movement, particularly for my project |photo|situ|.

All images and text © Bernard Jolivalt