Radio Ballast — François-Xavier Gbré, Atelier EXB

A railway becomes an archive of colonial memory and slow decay. Following the Abidjan–Niger line for over a year, this work traces infrastructures once built for extraction, now partially abandoned and overtaken by vegetation. Stations, tracks, and workshops appear suspended between use and disappearance. Gbré’s precise, luminous images register time as erosion—peeling surfaces, rusted structures, humid light. Produced within the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès programme, the series unfolds as a quiet reflection on history’s persistence in the landscape.

Technical Sheet
Title: Radio Ballast
Artist / Author: François-Xavier Gbré
Medium / Materials: Hardcover book
Dimensions (cm): 22 x 26.3
Pages: 104
Language: English
Publisher / Editor: Atelier EXB
ISBN: 978-2-36511-459-2