I arrived at Vitry-sur-Seine, a commune in the suburbs of the southern end of greater Paris. At the bar next to the train station, African migrants were drinking beer on the terrace while listening to music. Vitry-sur-Seine is like many cities of today’s France: multicultural. A large part of the population arrived in the country in the past few decades, settling in the outer semi-industrial parts of the capital. Vitry-sur-Seine is the home of the Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, a regional museum dedicated to contemporary French art. It’s here, in an alley five minutes’ walk from the train station, that Bao Vuong’s studio is situated.

• Tags: Bao Vuong, Issue 24, Louis Raymond