For a year, along the same routes, I took pictures of the men, women and kids who, just like me, were travelling across Marseille. Most of the time I did this while I was travelling to or from work, but not always.

I like exploring and gathering information about everyday life. I graduated in anthropology, so I just cannot escape it, it comes along with my background. This turns my eyes towards people and influences the way I look at them, I cannot help it, this is my instinctive photographic approach.

There is nothing more commonly experienced than our daily trips through public transportation. Is there anything more related to what we call routine? French people say Metro, Boulot, Dodo. Which in English translates to Routine. Loop. Monotony.

What are we doing in those daily given spaces and times, in those public spaces most of the time so cosy, they could seem private? Napping, listening to music, reading, looking around at people. The neighbouring person seems so close and yet so far away.

It is a private time for each one of us. Crossing territories where we don’t usually go. It is an open window to the city, an everyday look on urban changes. A deep dive into another world. An opening to somewhere else, or someone else, or yourself.

My pictures are made by instinct. I try to show a kind of intimate poetry around the idea of motion. Motion as a way of physical moving but also as a change, as a rhythm, as an action, a difference, an impulse. Motion as life.

To find out more about Léna Maria please visit :

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