We are pleased to share with you the interview with Swati Devichi at the end of her residency at La Friche in Marseille.

Swati Devichi: Capturing Urban Plant-Human Connections in Marseille

In the Mediterranean, a region particularly exposed to climate change, the European MATCH programme explores how art can foster new forms of ecological engagement. By using community gardens as spaces for encounter and experimentation, it invites artists and local residents to collectively imagine more supportive and regenerative practices.

At La Friche la Belle de Mai, this residency takes root in the Jardin des Rails, where creativity, ecology, and citizen participation converge.

We met Swati Devichi, a photographic artist hosted for one month at La Friche as part of the MATCH programme.

In the not-so-concrete streets of Belle de Mai, Swati documents the relationships between residents and plants. Her analog double-exposure photographs reveal a sensitive, collective mapping where emotional bonds with living beings become a way to reflect on the neighborhood, urban life, and resilience.

What was your approach during the residency at La Friche?

I work in analog documentary photography, almost like artistic reportage. Before, I studied urban ecological commons in social sciences, so there’s some overlap. During this residency, I used double exposure, where the film is exposed twice and the images merge. I worked with local residents to understand which plants they cared about. I first photographed a plant, then a portrait of the person on top of it. The great thing about this technique is that it allows for a lot of chance and spontaneity.

Can you tell us about the plants and people you photographed?

When I arrived, I started connecting with people around Belle de Mai. I spent a lot of time at Jardin des Rails at La Friche, but also at Levat Convent and even the Cantine du Midi. I even sang in Swedish in a choir, following Gilbert, for example.

I met the person who works at La Friche’s concierge office, who grew beautiful passionflowers all around the building. Adrien, who takes care of a vegetable garden, told me about forage peas, a green manure that regenerates the soil. Aurélie, who does cosplay, chose a cherry tree that reminds her of Japan.

In the city, everyone has an emotional connection to a plant.

Why focus on plants in an urban space?

It’s to explore the emotional ties people have with nature around them, especially in highly urbanized areas. Everyone chose either vegetables they grew themselves in collective plots, trees from their garden, or plants they found in the street that evoke childhood memories. Everyone has a story with a plant.

The idea is to explore nature in the city and see what kind of vegetation can grow in the interstices, between the cracks in concrete. Even in the most urban spaces, nature resists the sanitized city. It creeps along, sprouts between pavements — there’s always some greenery breaking through modern life.