The charming little town of Aurillac, in the center of France, is renowned for its rich cheeses and the beauty of its landscapes. But taking a walk through the town center turns out to be a true Via Dolorosa as scores of shops and boutiques had to close down due to the hardships entailed by the pandemic. People’s hopes vanished overnight when they had to draw the final curtain—not only shop owners, but also their customers who had been shopping there for years and years.

So I set out photographing some of the facades and decided to symbolically offer them a new life by superimposing some of my photos taken in such faraway places as Iran, Egypt, or Japan. My final goal would be to have those photos printed out on canvas and displayed on the boarded-up windows, setting up an open-air photo exhibition for each and every Aurillac citizen and visitor to enjoy and have a glimpse at street life in faraway lands.

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