Paris-Gonesse Project n.07 WORKERS BY WORKERS

Developed at the Bernard Controls factory in Gonesse within the Social Sensibility R&D Department, Workers by Workers is a collaborative photography project by Chilean-born, Switzerland-based artist Enrique Muñoz García. Beginning with a series of visits between September and December 2024, the project asks how photography can become a shared practice within the workplace, without turning workers into the subjects of an artist’s work or adding another task to their working day.

 

A simple photographic studio installed inside the factory offered participating workers the possibility of photographing one another, experimenting with lighting and developing their own ideas. Moving between the positions of photographer and photographed, participants contributed their ways of seeing, sometimes bringing work tools into the portraits. A parallel proposition, Aller-retour, opened a space to explore everyday journeys between home and the factory alongside personal histories of movement and migration.

 

The process evolved through conversations, uneven participation and adjustments to the artist’s initial proposals. As some studio sessions gave way to more spontaneous encounters between colleagues, photography became a lighter, more informal exchange. Prints were returned to participants throughout the residency, culminating in new group photographs shared with the workers. Beyond the production of images, Workers by Workers explores the conditions of collaboration: how to make room for others’ initiative, respect their time and interests, and reconsider what an artist can meaningfully contribute within a working community.

 

Enrique Muñoz Garcia (b. Chile, 1969g) is a photographer and curator based in Switzerland since 1998. His work merges photojournalism and contemporary art to explore memory and politics. Awarded the Prix de la Photographie de Paris and the Grimme Online Award, he has exhibited internationally. He founded the public art platform Juraplatz (awarded the 2025 Biel Culture Prize) and the Biel/Bienne Video Festival, and leads workshops for the Goethe-Institut.