This is the story of a road known as Route GP1. It runs along the coast from Tunis to the Libyan border, its asphalt strip following the ancient Roman roads toward Carthage, flanked by sea and olive trees. But the GP1 is a thing of the past – the highway has arrived. My photos record the lives and dreams that have faded with it, the last witnesses who, drained by the difficult new circumstances, are preparing to leave for the city, where there is probably no room for them nor any future for their children.

Born in Tunis in 1969, freelance photographer Hichem Driss studied in Paris and has since continued to work in both Tunisia and France. After working with photographers in different fields including fashion, interior design, architecture and art, in 2002 he set up the Barg Ellil studio, where he undertakes advertising assignments while pursuing personal projects. His exhibitions include the Encounters of Bamako, 1998; the Fiesta du Sud in Marseille; Lettres d’argile at the Institut Français in Tunisia, 2000; Norderlicht in Holland; International Photography Month in Athens; and the Aperture Foundation in New York, 2006. In 2010 he was among the photographers chosen to produce the hundred portraits of JR’s Artocratie collages in Tunisia.