«Un temps sans école » (A Time Without School) is a documentary work about young people who grew up outside of school, about the group they formed through chance encounters, and about their families who support them at every new stage. On the roads of France, I followed several individuals: Lisa, Ilan and Loren, Eve, Pauline and her daughter Elyna, Isaure and Hermione, Matilda, and finally Oriane.

This photographic project was carried out in the context of homeschooling. French law stipulates that education is compulsory for children aged 3 to 16, but it does not specify that it must take place at school. Between 2022 and 2023, 54,309 children were thus «educated at home.» All these young people I met have, at one time or another, left school for different reasons. For some parents, it is a solution to resolve situations of bullying, school phobia, or dysfunction within a school. For others, it is more a lifestyle and educational choice.

This story began under the light of August 2022 during a “Rencontre” (Gathering), an associative and activist meeting linked to this educational option, and continues until 2025 within the intimacy of these young people and their families. My intention is to document their daily lives in this extraordinary situation, where school, usually ever-present, is absent. And thus to explore the plurality of their family, friendly, romantic, and associative bonds.

Over time, this project bears witness to youth, its stages (for some, returning to school or starting their first jobs), and their transition from adolescence to adulthood.