In 2007, JR launched »Women Are Heroes« to pay tribute to women who play an essential role in society but who are also the first victims of poverty, rape, crimes and war. The French artist pasted 2600 strips of paper on a 363-meters long container ship in the Port of Le Havre. Covering over 180 of the containers, the giant image formed the eyes of a Kenyan woman whose name is Elisabeth Kamenga.  JR promised this woman to make her story known and so he did.

We met Guillaume Cagniard, director of  ‘Rivages’ (meaning ‘Shores’ in French), a mesmerising short film that captures the installation. By realizing the film, Guillaume wanted to show an obvious contrast between a hostile environment ruled by male dockers in this cold city of Le Havre and the face of this African woman. 

»Being able to bring these 2 worlds face to face was very interesting. The dockers’ world is hard to reach and demanding. Usually, they refuse every shooting but the more we shared and interacted, the more they opened their doors. On a rainy Sunday, they even wanted to participate on the collage, and they loved it. Thanks to them, the project came to life.« The artwork brings the first woman to the port, and Guillaume’s short film pays tribute to all the men who helped create it. »We spent 3 weeks together. They are true men, men of bravery and experience. They brought me back to some strong values and a rare notion of humanism. They pass down their work from father to son for generations. What I learned is that if you want to become a docker, your father has to be a docker first. That’s why I wanted to highlight three generations of a same family, a grand-father, a father, and son«. 

Dockers also have a special relationship with the ocean and water in general. Throughout the pictures taken by Guillaume Cagniard in Port of Le Havre, we notice a sweet routine of complicity between men and the sea. However, as Guillaume explains, reality is somehow different. »The oldest dockers don’t know how to swim and some of them have never left Le Havre. Everyday, they face the ocean and these hundreds of transit goods from all over the world, they work for boats which sail thousands of miles on the seven seas. Although dockers stay here, ‘tied’ to the harbor, they have been witness to thousands of stories created on the oceans.«

All Photos © Guillaume Cagniard

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