'Shaping a space of understanding': Marilyn Stafford's street photographs of Cité Lesage-Bullourde

This essay considers the legacy of a small, but important set of historical photographs of children, taken in the post-war period by the American-British photographer Marilyn Stafford (b.1925) in the narrow streets of the Cité Lesage-Bullourde neighbourhood, situated not far from the Place de la Bastille in Paris. In 1961, less than a decade after Stafford’s chance visit, the Cité was completely demolished, and all the residents were dispersed to new high-rise buildings on the outskirts of Paris.