Candy Floss and Decay: Photos of French Funfairs

This article originally appeared on VICE France

Funfairs are the best. They’re brimming with fun and decay, nothing ever changes and everybody’s welcome. French photographer Manolo Mylonas decided to document French funfairs for his series Attraction terrestre (“Terrestrial attraction”). It took him about a year and a half to finish this project – he visited big funfairs near Paris but also the ones in smaller French cities like Saint-Denis, Montfermeil, Pontoise, Dieppe, Rouen, Angers, Saint-Omer, Calais et Dunkirk.

About that year and a half, Manolo says: “It was wonderful rediscovering the slot machines, dodgems and old merry-go-rounds I loved as a child. The Rotor, for example – that ride was created in the late 1940s but still manages to look extremely futuristic. It was funny to see that these rides hadn’t changed a bit – they are still run and maintained by old fairground workers and their grandchildren.

But funfairs are gradually disappearing from city centres. Fairground workers don’t want to be relocated to the absolute outskirts of towns, but it’s happening. It’d be a shame to see those fairs die out.”

See more of Manolo’s work below and on his website or Facebook page.

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