Christophe Gin: Colony / Colonie

Christophe Gin spent five months exploring the landscapes of Guiana, from border regions to the most remote Amerindian villages, where soldiers mingle with gold prospectors and exploited immigrant workers, and where local population is forced to integrate republican concepts. His photography bears witness to the reality of life in a land full of contrasts, far from the caricatures often presented through the mainstream press.

„Guiana is France’s most vast region, in which the Guiana Space Centre co-exists with an immense area of forest. In principle, this part of the Republic is subject to the same laws as those of the metropolis. However, a combination of factors (an uncontrollable equatorial forest, a gold rush descending into the tropical Far-West, foreign nationals reduced to criminality, and an American-Indian population forced to adapt to a system of republicanism) transform this part of the Republic into a place of lawlessness..
When viewed from the metropolis, this hellish cliché is that most often associated with this French department, and unfortunately it is very easy to reduce Guiana to this caricature.
After having worked in the region for the past fifteen years, I see Guiana more like a mosaic of exceptional places, often governed by codes and laws that are right for them. In this context French law, rights and customs remain somewhat illusory.“ (Christophe Gin)

Christophe Gin (b. 1965 in Nevers France), a self-taught photographer, started his career in the early 1990s, with the photo report Nathalie conduite de pauvreté (Nathalie: Conduct of Poverty, 1994-2001). In 2001 Gin explored French Guiana for the first time. Encountering and understanding this society later took the photographer to Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia and Suriname. His work has been the subject of numerous international exhibitions.

2014 Christophe Gin was chosen as the 6th laureate of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award, which aims to support and promote works of investigative photojournalism documenting areas often underrepresented in mainstream news coverage.

Christophe Deloire is director-general of Reporters Without Borders.