This book gives an account of a writing and photography workshop project led by Marie-Noëlle Boutin and Olivier de Solminihac with thirteen volunteers from the Centre socioculturel Agora in Douchy-les-Mines and the Maison de quartier Solange Tonini in Denain.

In the context of the “Eclats de vie de bénévoles” project, the CRP/, the Centre socioculturel Agora and the Maison de quartier Solange Tonini joined forces to offer their volunteers practical workshops in photography as well as writing, with the aim of promoting their day-to-day missions helping people who are often disadvantaged, and ultimately showing their commitment in the form of words and images.

To lead this project, the CRP/ enlisted the help of artist Marie-Noëlle Boutin and writer Olivier de Solminihac, who are both engaged in a practice that proceeds through exchange. Marie-Noëlle Boutin—who develops portrait-based photographic work nourished by her meetings with inhabitants of the cities she crosses—chose to photograph volunteers outside the social center, in their homes, surrounded by objects that implicitly say a bit more about who they are. With these portraits, we better perceive the personalities of these volunteers, who have decided to donate their time, placing themselves in the service of the collective. The collective is presented in the form of active verbs placed alongside text portraits by Olivier de Solminihac, author of novels and youth literature. In a few lines, these texts delicately and accurately sketch a personality, reconstructing a shared moment between the writer and those who participated in these workshops.

Created within and around the social centers, the images of volunteers accompanied by the photographer punctuate these sensitive text and image portraits, and convey their perception of this environment, which characterizes it and determines their missions within it.