Les Choux de Créteil is a documentary, social and personal project that photographer Wendy Huynh has been working on since September 2020, starting with the 50th anniversary of the district in September 2022. It is currently still ongoing and will take the form of a third exhibition and a book.

The aim of this project is to tell the story of the history and life of the Choux district by highlighting its residents. It aims to show that the history of architecture is defined above all by the human experience at the heart of the district.

We decided to give the floor to the residents of the district: those who are at the heart of Les Choux, those whose daily lives put into practice what historians and theoreticians are trying to write about this urban and architectural project in Créteil. These residents are the ones who tell the story of the architecture of Les Choux. These meetings were an opportunity to gather accounts of their developments and their past lives in the district, to draw their portraits and collect their personal archives.

This project is still in progress, and will continue with a third exhibition and a self-edited publication bringing together all our research, archives, photographs, interviews and personal accounts. We will be inviting researchers, sociologists and architects to complete and develop the subject. Our ambition is to be a reference and a manifesto on this district, as well as a tribute to the work of Gérard Grandval.

Families and residents opened the doors of their homes to us, sharing their stories, memories and anecdotes. There was a strong sense of attachment to their neighbourhoods, wonderful stories of friendship between neighbours and, above all, a sincere vision of the city as a whole. These meetings were an opportunity to hear about their developments and their past lives in the neighbourhood, to draw their portraits and collect their personal archives.