Blois, central France. A Gothic cathedral stands tall and proud, surrounded by chateaus filled with ornate decor and historic artworks of late kings, and lush gardens to rival Eden are set along the river Loire. It’s a picturesque city, one we might call typically French. What Blois doesn’t reveal is the country’s problematic approach to housing the country’s migrant populations, that 20,000 of its 50,000 inhabitants live in the fourth largest housing estate in France just a kilometer away.

On October 27, 2005, after the death of 17-year-old Zyed and 15-year-old Bouna resulting from a police chase, France’s suburbs, or banlieues, erupted in protest against the country’s systematic police violence and racism. Simon Wheatley didn’t intend to stay in France when he was sent on assignment to capture the mood of a nation characteristically in protest towards its authorities—he jumped on a train after hearing that no photographer was documenting the French estates at the time.

“Always and Forever There,” his book published late 2023 (18 years after the photos were taken) is a tale of youth pushed to the margins of French life, as Simon says in the book, “lumped on the edge of town.” Wheatley photographed Blois and its inhabitants in 2005 after being commissioned by Magnum. “It was a bit of a media tour,” he says of when the journalists first arrived. “We saw some burnt out trucks and cars. I made a few photos but it seemed like a very pointless exercise. It was almost tourist journalism.”