This exhibition presents thirty black-and-white photographs taken from the series Les silences de la terre, produced for more than ten years on the north coast of Finistère in the west of France.
“Photographing farmers has become increasingly urgent because very soon there will be none left. Old and lonely, without heir to their way of life, the farmers cannot pass on their experience to the next generation. They live on a family farm built by their ancestors, a fertile granite womb that gave birth to generations of hard workers. It is a warm and inviting place, but also a place of isolation. There, through respect and perseverance, I got to know these sincere men, free from the illusion of appearance, who know nothing of the self-satisfied, egotistical cult of image. They face the present the way they faced the past, and they stand before the camera the way they face their daily labor, with seriousness and honesty. My subject is not simply about the farmer, but also about celibacy and solitude in the rural world.”
Michèle Le Braz
EXHIBITION
Le Ventre de granit
Festival Pluie d’Images
January 19 – March 1st, 2013
Médiathèque de St Marc
Place Vinet
29200 Brest
France
