Chloe Sharrock

On the morning of the Eid el Kebir, one of the most important celebration for the Muslim community, a man arrives late for the morning prayer at the Grande Mosque in Paris, and ends up praying on the street.

On the 6th night of the Sukkot celebration, men from the Loubavitch community, a branch of Hasidism, isolate themselves to study the Deuteronomy book. They will be spending the entire night reading it, before going to the synagog early in the morni

The Buffault Temple is mainly frequentated by portugese Sepharidic Jews, and counts among the 25 synagogs implanted in Paris.

Men from the Loubavitch community go to the synagog up to several times a day. Women are separated from them during prayer and other important celebrations such as weddings or Bar Mitzvahs.

The Sepharidic jewish community celebrates Pourim at the Buffault temple. It is custom that night to dress up in costumes, and study the Book of Esther.

Two young children participate at the sunday mass at Saint-Ambroise's church.

While men are praying in the hall of the Beth Haya Mouchka, facing Jerusalem, a portrait of the rabbi Mendel Schneerson is seen on the wall. He was considered as the messia by a large part of the Jewish community.

On Eid el Kebir's day, finding a sheep that is sacrificed according to the custom is extremely difficult for Muslims living in France. At Sarcelles, near Paris, a mobile slaughterhouse was set up, and more than a thousand animals were killed followi

A family holds the Roch Hachana diner, the Jewish New Year celebrated in September. This celebration is particularely observed by Jewish communities, no matter how practising they are.

Sunday mass in Saint-Joseph-des-Nations' church, one of the more than 200 churches in Paris.

During Sukkot celebration, it is custom for the Jews to spend a week in a booth. In France, especially in an urban environment such as Paris, this tradition is difficult to observe, therefore, some mobile Sukkas are driven around the city so members

A man studies the Koran in the Paris' Mosque.

The Rue Petit's Beth habad holds a school, a party hall, a kindergarten and its own synagog. Beth Habads are, for the Loubavitch community, the heart of their religious practice, but also communitarian and social life.

Hundreds of men are forced to pray on the street on Eid el Kebir's day because of the lack of space in the mosque. In Paris, there are less than 25 mosques for the entire muslim community.

The WEIGHT OF SILENCE

This documentary is a long term project that I started seven months ago, that documents the weight of religion in people’s daily life in Paris, focusing on various communities issued from Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Most of the rites take place behind closed doors, following the principle of laicity in France, but yet, by documenting these communities through celebrations and cults during an entire year, I tried to explore how something invisible can affect the visible, and the impact it has on the rhythm of thousands of persons’s life.

Chloe Sharrock

At the age of 8 years old, I found in a basement an old Ricoh camera. What seemed like a great toy at first, quickly became an indispensable instrument to communicate and express my vision of the world. After history of art studies in Lyon, followed by cinema studies specialized in aesthetics and documentary in Paris, fields that still influence my work today, I quickly came back to photography through a more journalistic approach. My work now focuses on religion, seing it as a complex and rich cultural network. I try to highlight the way that communities organise themselves around cult and tradition.

I am now based in Paris and member of the photo agency CIRIC.