Aïda Ali-Saïd is a 22 year-old french photographer. After getting a double degree in philosophy and economics at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in 2023, she enrolled into the Master "Practices, History and Theories of Photography" of the Paris 8 university. Considering herself still new to the practice of photography, as she only bought her first reflex camera about a year ago, she was yet always gravitating around and attracted to the world of images and questions of visuals and aesthetics, especially when these mediums are used to trigger discussions regarding social issues.

 

The series "Quinté+ssence" acts as an attempt to portrait the french cultural institution that tobacco-bars are, through a documentary approach conducted for several months in the north of Paris' suburb. Symbol of the popular class, and yet frequented by people of all ages, genders and backgrounds, tobacco-bars are wrapped up in a thick coat of mystery, biases and stigmas. This project aimed to unveil the reality of what is happening behind these doors and the intimate stories of its regular clients, while questioning the possibility for a young female photographer to get an accurate grasp of it all, considering the often male-dominated demographics of these places.

Auto-edited in the format of a photo book, the printed version of the series will be part of the end-of-year exhibition of the "Atelier Photo de Paris 1" at La Sorbonne, at the end of the year 2023.