Galerie Lumière des Roses

‘I’m an amateur, and I intend to remain one. Look at amateurs, whose sole aim is to record a memory – that’s pure photography.’ This quote from legendary Hungarian photographer André Kertész adorns the website of the Galerie Lumière des Roses, serving as a sort of manifesto for the venue. The photos lining its walls are credited to nobody: we don’t know who took them, when, or where. Big-name artists and industry professionals don’t get a look in. The gallery is a shrine to the randomness, the spontaneity, with which moments in the lives of ordinary people happen to be recorded on camera.

Opened in 2005 by Philippe and Marion Jacquier, long-time devotees of what the French call ‘le huitième art’, the gallery has swiftly built itself a reputation as the centre of anonymous photography in France. This is partly thanks to its owners’ remarkable dedication: the couple routinely rummage through flea markets and even rubbish dumps with the aim of salvaging beautiful images that would otherwise forever be consigned to oblivion. Thanks to their sharp artistic eye, they’ve put together one of the most striking and downright surprising photography collections in the capital.

The gallery, situated beyond the périphérique in Montreuil, is open on weekdays (reservations necessary); it also participates in the Paris Photo fair every November.