“I was tired of the capital. Too much noise, too many people. And I couldn’t stand my neighbours. I wanted a change of scenery, and especially of life.”

If only I could construct my own little French ghost town to escape to. Thibaut Derien created one through his photography project “I Live in a Ghost Town”. From his extensive travels throughout France, capturing old storefronts, he invites us to explore his fictional town and walk down the empty, silent streets with him. A complete town with all the shops and businesses that its ghost in residence could possibly need…

“I came across it by chance. A city without cars or living without noise or movement, quiet as the countryside, relaxing as the ocean. Today I walk silently in the streets just for me … At first I asked myself some questions: what had happened here and what had become of the population? Urban migration, natural disaster, ecological disaster, it is not important. I kill time … imagining all these past lives behind the closed shutters, these iron curtains drawn.” – Thibaut Derien





Explore all of Thibault’s ghost town here or get the coffee table book here.