In the early nineteen eighties, photographer Abbas obsessively followed the campaigns of French politicians. With his background as a foreigner, an Iranian transplanted to France, and his knowledge of Africa, he soon realized that politicians follow certain rituals. He decided to photograph them the way he would a Zulu tribe.
Shaking the hand of a person, any person is the first ritual : each hand shaken has the potential of putting the politician’s name in the ballot box for the next elections.
Plants and flowers decorating their rostrums enter into a dialogue with the politicians and seem to...