Abandoned Churches - Unclaimed Places of Worship

• Photographer
  Francis Meslet
• Prizes
  Silver in Book/Fine Art

Between 2012 and 2019 Francis Meslet photographed several hundred places of worship across Europe. Over time, these places have became enveloped in silence, the only thing heard there now an occasional gust of wind whistling though broken stained glass, or the rhythmic drip of water leaking through the dilapidated roof above a nave. Nevertheless, these muted places still draw an occasional visitor. Once upon a time, prayers could be heard recited in Latin in a German church; and in a French Catholic college, the voices of children once resounded to the sound of the bells...

A graduate in Design from the Fine Art School of Nancy in 1986, Francis Meslet was a designer, but soon turned to advertising when he joined several agencies as an artistic director. Francis does not hesitate to roam the world in his spare time, searching for abandoned sites, sanctuaries where time seems to have stopped after humans have evacuated them. He thus brings back captivating and melancholic images of his travels to the other side of the world...