Bure, or Life in the Woods — Jürgen Nefzger

The Lejuc woods, in Bure, have become a symbol of anti-nuclear activists’ fight against radioactive waste disposal in France. Between summer 2016 and winter 2018, this forest was occupied by militants to prevent clearing and facility set-up. In early 2018, the woods were evacuated by force, the cabins destroyed, the militants dispersed. But utopia and struggle endured, and with them the awareness of the impasse into which nuclear energy is dragging humanity.

read moreread less

The photographic work is inspired and put into perspective by the ideology and focus of Henry David Thoreau, an American philosopher and writer of the mid-19th century. His essay on Civil Disobedience (1848), entirely reproduced, voices a demanding and straightforward ideology through its condensed reproduction, which can be perceived as distorted, hallucinated, or even like a kind of revolted pixels.

Warm thanks to all the “owls” of Bure for their welcome and trust.

Le bois Lejuc à Bure dans la Meuse est devenu un symbole de la lutte antinucléaire contre l’enfouissement des déchets nucléaires. Entre l’été 2016 et l’hiver 2018, cette forêt était alors occupée par des militants afin d’empêcher le défrichement et la mise en place du chantier. Début 2018, le bois a été évacué « manu militari », les cabanes détruites, les militants délogés. Mais l’utopie et la lutte demeurent, et avec elles la conscience de l’impasse dans laquelle l’énergie nucléaire entraîne l’humanité.