Trans-Europe-Express tells us about a succession of stops in cities, a journey in search of magical moments and vanished moments. It is also an attempt to reconnect with my childhood years and my now deceased parents. A railroad employee with a passion for rail, my father took the family every summer in a joyful and unchanging ritual of long train trips in France and Europe. I wanted to seize the opportunity of the life that unfolded before me. Take a tram in the rain in Sofia, cross a tired brass band in Vilnius, venture down a colorful alley in Galway, walk along the “East Side Gallery” and get lost in the maze of stelae at a memorial in Berlin… Notwithstanding the constraints of reality, I always hope for the happy accident. The photographs were taken in Europe between 2012 and 2019.

Alain Carayol