Kho, la génèse d’une révolte.

Kho, The Genesis of a Revolt

The Project 

Kho is an immersion in the heart of Algiers' working-class neighborhoods, meeting a youth who one day in February 2019 broke the wall of fear by walking into the streets, and giving life to the biggest demonstrations that Algeria has known for decades.

But the story begins in 2014. Bouteflika had just been elected a fourth time president of Algeria, a country with a very heavy past and finally very little documented since the "black decade" (the civil war of the 90s).

When I discovered Algiers the first time, I was caught up in the general slump that seemed to follow us everywhere. At each street corner, an immense youth which seemed to wander aimlessly, in the void... The regime expected nothing from it but calm, resignation.

I had to tell about these young people who interested no one.

So I followed their wanderings. I photographed daily life in its simplicity. Suspended moments that only underline a singular and worrying situation. The boredom and frustration of the street. The claiming rage of the stadiums... Moments of ephemeral freedom in discreet places, hidden from society...

I lived like this with them for more than 5 years, as if inhabited by this story which for me was more than just a documentary.

It was played out in these neighborhoods, something fundamental and universal that had to do with human tragedy.

Man in the face of the dogmas that erode him?

How does he live when he is deprived of dreams?

Kho, has received international recognition through numerous awards and exhibitions. It won the story of the year award of the prestigious WorldPressPhoto 2020, and an exhibition has been traveling around the world for the past year.

https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2020/39851/1/Romain-Laurendeau-SOY

This book will be for me the most complete and successful form of restitution. The one that will be perennial in time.

The Book

"The photographer tries to tell the story of the young people not only now but over several years. He tries to be close to the neighborhood, to the people, to their way of life (...). For me, this story is really powerful because you feel that you are there. The photographer has made you feel that you are in the country". - Mariana Bazo, Peru, photojournalist, and member of the general jury of WorlPressPhoto 2020.

I thought this book to reflect my photographic approach. I would like the reader to take part in the story. Living in Algeria, in the heart of these neighborhoods, while giving him the space he needs for his own reflection.

By the choices of the scenography, the model, the paper, or even the cover, I hope to be able to take the reader into much more than a documentary report.

So I see this book as a journey. It will nevertheless end with a long text in which I will tell my own story. I will evoke my encounters, my most striking anecdotes, my experiences...

Followed by a list where each photograph in the book will be annotated or captioned.

This book can therefore be understood as a thousand sheets, at multiple levels of reading.

I am currently working on its finality. I will inform you very regularly on the progress and final choices of the book.

The characteristics of the book are as follows:

Format 22 x 27 cm

200 color and black and white pages

120 photos (many unpublished)

Hard cover, sewn binding

Matte art paper (FSC standard)

Printing in France

Texts in French and English

Postal shipments in reinforced cardboard packaging

The book will be shipped to pre-buyers by early April 2021 at the latest, and then marketed in May in bookstores.

By pre-purchasing a copy of this book, you simply allow it to exist! You thus fully participate in a cultural creation, and support book publishing independently, outside of traditional commercial schemes. Thank you!

Questions? Proposals? Don't hesitate to write us an email : rlaurendeau@gmail.com