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RENAUD COULOMB

"Cool Hotel Chaos" (Australia)

Gatwick Hotel's owners, twin sisters Rose Banks and Yvette Kelly, have sheltered for 20 years those who had nowhere to go: penniless people, drug addicts, prostitutes, ex-convicts. The Gatwick has been a gateway for many, and a house for decades for others. In the fast-gentrifying neighborhood of Saint-Kilda (Melbourne), the building became spoilsport. Its notorious reputation precipitated its fall. The sisters felt forced to sell the property. Channel 9 bought the building for its reality show The Block. The 1930s hotel had been split into luxurious apartments. story

Dave, from Fiji, has been sleeping at the Gatwick intermittently for 3 years. "We are lucky to have a roof and free meals". "I love wildlife documentaries, here we are like animals, we hunt money in the streets". Dave was sent to jail a few weeks after this photo was taken. Many say he is innocent, he would have taken the heat for someone else. February 2017.

Dany has just been released from prison, he is addicted to crystal meth. For him, the hotel is a magical place, where a person has to "make a wish at the exact moment when the sun lights the stained glass windows". May 2017.

Jennifer, 57, works in Saint-Kilda. She is not a resident in the Gatwick, but goes there every day to talk and rest. This is her "Hotel Chaos", she rephrases "Cool Hotel Chaos". March 2017.

Dave, 48, has just arrived at the Gatwick where he was sent by a charity center. The Gatwick often hosts people in trouble when there are no more places in the emergency centers. December 2016.

Darren in his room; he finds the Gatwick "exciting". He was relocated after the Gatwick's closure. March 2017.

Yvette, 60, is in charge of all the linen at the Gatwick. No subcontractor wants this job for fear of forgotten syringes. February 2017.

In Darren's room, on the first floor, Rose, 60, Yvette's twin sister, was asked to change a light bulb. May 2017.

Tiani, 31, from Queensland, prepares herself in one of the shared bathrooms to go out. She is staying with friends at the Gatwick. A complicated family story brought her to Melbourne. The Gatwick is her new "family", where she has "perhaps the youth that [she] never had". "Here, we can forget the outside world". December 2016.

Brandon, 37, has already spent a year and a half at the Gatwick, a "sanctuary". The closure makes him "melancholic". On the day of his departure, he gave two gifts to the sisters to thank them. He was rehoused near St. Kilda after the closure. January 2017.

Arthur, 70, leaves soon. He is packing his 26 years at the Gatwick. He is proud of his LPs and the letters he wrote, up to 100 per month, to TV stars, cricket players, and even to the Queen of England. He keeps preciously their answers in shoe boxes. He writes poems too. "One day, they will discover my work and say: what a great poet! We should have invited him on TV. "And then he recalls:" Arf, they do not like poetry on TV, they are just a bunch of idiots. " April 2017.

Charleze, 50 , spent 2 years at the Gatwick, "her home sweet home". She found an apartment near Saint Kilda after the Gatwick shutdown.
January 2016.

Duncan, 64, in his room where he puts what he collects in the street. April 2017.

Yvette cuts residents' hair for free. The night watchman, 55-year-old Mickael, was 17 when he first arrived at the Gatwick. He returned there 6 years after his divorce. His best memory about the Gatwick? "People. All have a good side, you just have to find it. Sometimes you have to dig a long time (laughs)." February 2017.

Darren talks with Peter, who works for the Saint-Kilda housing community to relocate long-term residents. Darren fought that night, his upper lip is split. The wall facing his room is studded with small spots of blood. March 2017.

Charleze, 50, 2 years at the Gatwick, is waiting in the hallway to charge her phone. She no longer has a room. May 2017.

Troy, 43, has been a resident for 4 months, helping as a backup night guard during the closure of Gatwick, his "home". He was a truck driver but his vehicle always broke down, thus he lost his job. Rose and Yvette found him a room on the "quietest" floor. Rose says: "we can quickly see who is likely to cause problems, we trusted Troy immediately." March 2017.

The room that served as a lounge and then as a storage room, is boarded up to avoid any intrusion. The team will continue working until the Gatwick's closing in June. May 2017.

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