155 x 205mm, 106 pages, Colour printing, Perfect bound, Softcover, 2025

Marseille is rarely seen as the “real France” embodied in cultural images of baguettes and wine or in the quaint village lanes of Provence. Tersely dismissed not only as a vacation destination, but also as a tenable choice for those relocating to France, Marseille is saddled with a persistent, one-note caricature. 


In Is It Safe? Kwate juxtaposes her own photography of Marseille’s streets against the anxious discourse of travelers seeking information from online forums about the city’s risks and rewards. For those venturing to the city for the first time, the tenor of the inquiries coheres around a single paranoid fear: “Is Marseille dangerous?”

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