The project called Figures du Village focuses on the personalities that shaped the landscape of a village: Mouriès. Thus, Morgan Mirocolo’s mobile studio moved to photograph alumni and tried to capture the moments of sincerity in front of his camera. Presented in this exhibition are 40 unique, expressive, marked faces. 40 faces that speak of their human history and that of a village that still binds with its heritage, its trades, its habits. To be Mourièsen, what does that mean? This is one of the questions the photographer has asked himself and still asks himself while contemplating and spending time with these people. This search for authenticity is reflected in each portrait leaving the subject free to be himself in the spotlight. Accustomed to an aesthetic sobriety, Morgan Mirocolo cultivates the photography of “mouths” who speak as one opens a book.
For the photographer, this exhibition is a tribute to this generation: “Through these photos, I would like to talk about the evolution of life, what these people who made the village have gone through. I wonder a lot about the freedom, the autonomy, the value of the present and I think that it is in this past that I can draw to be happy. “He imagines the life of these inhabitants of Alpilles who learned to know the electricity, running water, supermarkets, television … These upheavals that are today a standard or a due for our current society are not forgotten. At a time when the village is growing and modernizing, it seems good to remember that these people exist. Their stories by the difficulties but also the earthly joy deserve at least these few photos. This exhibition aims to question the viewer whoever he is about his relationship to the heritage. During the photo shoots, many also told of great moments: the bull in the village, washing, the period olivades, Aïoli (party and recipe) …
Ah, if images could speak … The knowledge of these personalities often hide under the mask of modesty. And if these portraits remain too quiet, their viewer will surely animate the place and tell each white hair, each scar, each smile. In addition to isolation, the confinement that some people endure as they age, Morgan Mirocolo magnifies here the human background, welcoming, benevolent of all these figures of the village. “We are all monuments of fables and anecdotes and they give me a crazy desire to relive with them these historical moments. Mouriès is out of a swamp, they make him come out of sadness. ”
Without falling into the image of Epinal Provencalist, the photographer tells the wrinkles as so many victories and humanities. “Mouriès is not the center of the Earth, but it is surely the center of theirs”.
Mattias Perez
This summer, as part of the Festival Voies Off, go to meet the Figures du Village in the authentic village of Alpilles “Mouriès”.
Morgan Mirocolo :Figures du Village
From July 2 to September 2, 2019
opening Friday 5th of July at 19h00
Galerie l’Atelier du Sculpteur in Mouriès
2 avenue Pasteur
13890 Mouries
