"For many people, the suburbs are a question of geography; but for Patrick Zachmann, they are primarily a matter of history. A national history.

I know his work well, and have never had the feeling that Patrick Zachmann took pictures of "the" suburbs. On the contrary! His work has always excluded the definite article that predetermined an angle of view. On the contrary! It rests only on the boldness of the indefinite plural! Suburbs, people, stories. Since he forges close yet respectful bonds with those he photographs, he knows their uniqueness. Photographed outside of the sound and fury, these stories weave a more collective one. In thirty years of pictures, what is told here is immigration as well as the evolution of French society. France, such a nearby suburb…" (Souâd Belhaddad).