Members of the CERN community are now part of the project Les Français et Ceux qui vivent en France (The French and those who live in France) by renowned French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Known for his book Earth from Above and his films Home and Human, Arthus-Bertrand has also been photographing the people of France for more than 30 years for his project The French and those who live in France. During a discussion with French demographer and historian Hervé Le Bras in 2023, he was prompted to enrich and complete this project. Throughout 2024, he is touring France to capture the diversity of the French population.

Arthus-Bertrand expressed an interest in photographing members of the CERN community residing in the Pays de Gex area of France, and the photoshoot took place on 8 March, during the Festival des Confrontations Photo 2024.

An internal call to the community resulted in more than 40 registrations in the first five minutes and 180 in total before registrations were closed. Participants were selected from among the first people to respond from each department.

“Yann was very kind”, says Zoe Nikolaidou who coordinated the collaboration. “He liked that we were wearing work clothes, including hardhats and hi-vis jackets, but he wasn’t so keen on us wearing our CERN access passes,” she laughs. “He didn’t find them very photogenic!”

The project will result in the publication of one or more books and a touring exhibition across France.