It is a very touching exhibition accompanied by a lovely text.
Its title: Mes doux fantômes (My Sweet Ghosts).
The photographer: Florence Verrier.
Its curator: the Parralax gallery.
For the people of Aix, The Duranne is an extension of the city of Aix-en-Provence: a technology park, a hub of activity, a new city…
In my family, it’s the château… the cornerstone of our clan.
My grandparents moved there with their first child in 1929… They stayed there for almost 50 years.
The Château de la Duranne was home to family life, working in the fields, the birth of their children, their weddings…
At the château, the stories of ordinary people meet the great.
The war, the occupation of the château by the Wehrmacht… then by the Americans.
I lived there as a child… surrounded by two generations… lulled by the sound of the wind in the trees, the movement of shadows under the plane trees.
The death of Etienne, my grandfather, and the sale of the estate forced us to leave the place.
The family scattered… always united in the image of the château.
The land became buildings, villas, businesses…
The estate was divided… Access to the pool was blocked… boundary walls were erected, but the château remained dignified, frozen at the end of what remained of the avenue of plane trees where I used to drive, sitting on the knees of my mother, her runner-up.
The plane trees disappeared. The street leading to the château bears my grandfather’s name.
Two real estate projects are encroaching on the space around the house.
I’ve always wanted to return to the place… to immerse myself in my childhood memories.
I did take the plunge… and contacted one of the developers.
My approach moved them… they gave me permission.
I spend several days wandering around this empty house, trying to connect my memories to the place, recalling smells, sounds, images, and family scenes.
Delving into the albums, I choose a few taken on the spot.
The characters in the photographs take shape against clouds of smoke, like a link between reality and my imagination, the rational and the supernatural.
I wanted to capture a moment when reality cracks, like a passage into a world where its apparitions are revealed by photography.
Florence Verrie
Florence Verrier : Mes doux fantômes
September 19-28, 2025
Chapelle des Andrettes
21 rue Cardinale
Aix-en-Provence
Thursday to Sunday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Free admission
