Nauru, the world's smallest country, once world's richest country, now with world's highest diabetes rate.

I was on French radio recently. An interview by Régis Picart, the chief editor of France Info, about my assignment in Nauru that was recently exhibited. I like how Regis summarized the situation in his write-up titled "The Eldorado of diabetes". Nauru, once the world's richest country, has now the world's highest diabetes rate.

Hear it and see it by clicking here.

Je suis passé à la radio récemment. Un interview de Régis Picard, rédacteur en chef de France Info, à propos de mon reportage à Nauru, exposé au festival Photo de Mer. J'aime la manière dont Régis a résumé la situation dans son article intitulé "L'eldorado des diabétiques". Nauru, un temps le pays le plus riche au monde, a maintenant le taux de diabète le plus élevé au monde.

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We passed with a car and I saw that man below in a cemetery in the distance. I walked to him and he welcomed me with a smile. I pushed away a mechanism that was telling me I should look sad for him. He was in fact a happy man, smiling all the way telling me a bit of his and his wife's love history. I love this kind of moments, be it tainted with death or not.

Nous sommes passés en voiture et j'ai vu cet homme au loin dans un cimetière. J'ai marché vers lui et il m'a sourit. J'ai repoussé un de ces mécanismes qui me disait que je devais prendre l'air triste. En fait, c'était un homme souriant, qui n'arrêta pas de sourire, tout en me rancontant sa vie amoureuse, de sa femme et lui. J'adore ce genre de moments, qu'il soit teind de mort ou pas.

Christmas is getting close. Jeffrey Garo uses the opportunity to repaint the tomb of his wife Nebaida, who passed away in 2004. “You know, here we call it the silence killer. Everyday people die on the island. No need to ask, it’s always diabetes…” Arrived from the islands of Tuvalu during the wave of immigration in the 60’s, Jeffrey fell in love and never left the island.

Noël approche. Jeffrey Garo en profite pour repeindre la tombe de sa femme Nebaida, qui est décédée en 2004. "Vous savez, ici on l'appele le tueur silencieux. Tout les jours des gens meurent. Y a pas besoin de demander: c'est toujours le diabète...". Arrivé des îles Tuvalu pendant la vague d'immigration dans les années 60, Jeffrey est tombé amoureux et n'est jamais reparti...

Matthieu Paley sur France 2 - I was on TV...

I am hard at work trying to find a solution for a new website - as most of us now know, Flash = Satan - so I need to revert to html, only for referencing purposes, so that my entire site can be searchable (it's far from being the case now), so that the site shows up in iphone/ipad etc... To host it, I have been considering Photoshelter, PhotoDeck, Neon Sky, Livebooks etc. It's getting my head in - but it's important I move back to html.

A few days ago, I was on french television (France 2) for an interview on my ongoing exhibition on Nauru and on the festival in general. I am not good at show biz, but Here it is. It gives an insight of the outdoor exhibition space, which was really well done I thought. It's a few minutes.

Je suis passé à la télé, sur France 2 il y a quelques jours - à propos de mon exposition sur Nauru et sur le festival en général. Vous pouvez visionné ça ici.