Book Tip: Before Rebirth

The first contact the photographer had with the town located in the U.S. state of North Carolina was a shock. He had been promised a town in transformation - in a state of rebirth; but, at first glance, all he could see was desolation and some run-down charm from the seventies. The streets were nearly empty, with shop windows boarded up, gas stations abandoned, and tobacco warehouses dilapidated: the city's heyday was obviously way in the past.

Wilson was once reckoned to be the largest tobacco market in the world. Agriculture had always been important for the town. As of the 1890s, tobacco growing had become increasingly significant and, within a decade, four huge warehouses had been built to house the more than 6800 tonnes of tobacco traded through the town every year. Its decline, however, was finally sealed once the auctions were discontinued, over 25 years ago. Today, barely fifty thousand people live in Wilson. There are too many businesses standing empty; yet an art scene, which could be seen as an indication of a transformation to come, is beginning to emerge.

The effort to revive the inner city through art has been going on for some time. In 2014, Belgian photojournalist Jérôme De Perlinghi set up Eyes on Main Street, which turned into an internationally recognised photography programme. Roux spent a month there in December, 2021, as part of the residency programme, then completed his series during two further visits, over the following two years. The pictures taken in Wilson are defined by a rather quiet and withdrawn atmosphere. Roux’s main interest lies in light, shadows and colours. Faded and peeling facades, empty parking lots and boarded up buildings underline the city's decline. However, the photographer encourages the viewer to see beauty in the mundane. He captures things that might otherwise be overlooked, he portrays people on the streets, concentrates his eye on the details. “I speak about the rebirth of a city and its optimistic inhabitants, and I produce works that are more narrative and contemplative than my first project,” the photographer explains. “To slow down my usual approach and include portraits in my series, Gaëlle Gouinguené lent me a Leica S (MF). So, for this story, I was able to interchange between the Q and the S lines.” The outcome is a surprising series, with pensive and sequential motifs about a – still – quiet town that hopes to be reborn.