Eric Dexheimer, a French photographer, spent two years immersed in the autistic world, working in several of these special centres in France, and also with a young girl and her family. He had his own room and slept in each of the centres, so he was able to be with the residents, as they are called, 24 hours a day. During the project Dexheimer used just 28 black and white films as, by his own estimate, he spent 95% of the time sitting, observing and planning his photographs. He would sketch them or write out his ideas. ‘There are times when you just wait—for minutes, hours, days. And you see nothing. Or apparently nothing’, says Dexheimer.

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