The territories of the Grand Est in France through the lens of five photographers
In early 2016, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine merged to create the Grand Est Region. Aware of the historic turning point in which all Alsatians, Champardennais and Lorrainers were engaged, the brand new Regional Collectivity then decided to launch a photographic mission. This unprecedented initiative set itself the objective of representing a territory at a given moment, through both documentary and artistic images, to provide insight and food for thought in order to answer the major questions and perhaps better understand certain issues of the territorialization.
Five photographers, accepted the challenge of this mission Lionel Bayol-Thémines, Beatrix von Conta, Olivia Gay, Bertrand Stofleth and Éric Tabuchi, criss-crossing the Grand Est for a year, from September 2019 to December 2020. Selected by a jury of specialists , they went to meet the inhabitants, places, infrastructures, took cross roads, got off the beaten track to show us their own representation of the Grand Est. At the end of their adventure, each artist delivered a body of work.
Each has chosen and treated his/her approach to the image in complete freedom and in symbiosis with his/her experience in the field and their encounters, Borrowing poetry, realism, sensitivity, their shots offer a rich and multiple vision of the region.
Their images question this territory that is the Grand Est: how to understand it? Who and what is it made of? What does it consist of ? How does it manifest itself? What is its identity? So many questions that these photographs invite to explore by offering a plurality of answers free of interpretation…
Grand Est, une mission photographique
until February 19, 2023
Cité musicale-Metz
Galerie d’Exposition de l’Arsenal
3 avenue Ney in Metz, France
Free entry.
https://missionphotographique-grandest.com/
www.grandest.fr
