Les amies de la Place Blanche, 1954
This is a book about insecurity. A portayal of those living a different life in the big city of Paris, of people who endured the roughness of the streets.
This is a book about humiliation, about the smell of whores and night life in cafés.
This is a book about the quest for self-identity, about the right to live, about the right to own and control one’s own body.
This is also a book about friendship, an account of the life we lived in the place Blanche and place Pigalle neighbourhood. Its market, its boulevard and the small hostels we resided in.
These are images from another time. A time when de Gaulle was president and France was at war against Algeria.
These are images of people whose lives I shared and whom I think I understood.
These are images of women – biologically born as men- that we call ‘transsexuals’
As for me, I call them ‘my friend of place Blanche’. This friendship started here, in the early 60s and it still continues.
Christer Strômholm, 1983
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