The residency takes place at Les Jardins des Rails, a community garden within La Friche la Belle de Mai, where residents, students, and local associations collectively cultivate and care for a former industrial site through shared urban gardening practices.

The residency is produced by La Friche la Belle de Mai, a cultural “third place” that brings together artistic activity, urban transformation, and strong connections to its territory, functioning both as a workspace for resident organizations and as a cross-disciplinary venue open to the public.

During the residency Lizzie Reid aims to create a collaborative artwork based on the knowledge gathered during the residency, ideally resulting in a piece that can live on in the green space in some form. Swati Devichi aims to foster shared authorship, regenerative imagination, and a deeper sense of care for everyday urban spaces. The Jardin des Rails offers fertile ground for using photography as a tool for archiving, justice, and hopeful transformation.

The residency will be followed by digital reflections, and culminates in a public exposition in June 2026. 

Co-funded by the European Union, MATCH connects five cultural organisations based in the Mediterranean: Mapa das Ideias (PT), D6:EU (CY), La Friche la Belle de Mai (FR), BJCEM (BE) and the National Technical University of Athens (GR), each of us working in collaboration with local arts and community garden partners: La Escocesa (ES), K2 Contemporary Art Centre (TR), Gardens of the Future (CY), Delta Pi (GR) and Duncan Dance Research Centre (GR).