JOHN KALAPO

Alet: Please tell us the story of the people in your series?

John: Those who have no home and live in an "other world', the universe of "the homeless". Suprised by the arrival of the Covid-19 and the containment measures taken by the French authorities. The unconfined homeless found themselves in an unforeseen situation when the pandemic arrived. They say, you have to stay confined to your home. But what do you do when there is no home? when you live on the streets. The streets are empty. there is no more passage. to do the sleeve is impossible. They have been forgotten in this health crisis.

A: How did you meet them and how were you able to take these images?

J: I went to them during the confinement, seeing that they were outside and I asked them the question, they let me know that the government had forgotten them. suddenly it is an injustice, this is what I wanted to show through my photos.

A: There is a lot of debate about photographing the "other". How do you feel about telling stories of people of a different race, class, gender or nationality than you?

J: I think each of us is free to tell the stories of our country and elsewhere, because if we don't tell them, someone else who is not from our home will do it. He is free to tell what he sees. In any case, as a documentary photographer, I tell stories from everywhere I travel.

A: What is the current situation in your country regarding Covid-19 and the lockdown?

J: For the moment at home in Mali, the situation is stable, we manage to live despite the Covid-19 pandemic, but the restrictions are applied to the norm, life is not how we lived before, having people around is no longer the case, now everyone avoids everyone else.