A daily section of JFC at the Visa Festival pour l’Image from August 31 to September 8, 2019.
Jean-Paul GRIOLET, president for eleven years of the Association Visa pour l’Image Perpignan, has taken on the delicate task of piloting a structure whose charismatic director is endowed with extreme exigency. Jean-Paul GRIOLET accepted this mission at the request of the former mayor of Perpignan, Jean-Paul Alduy, in 1999. His rigorous and endearing personality has gradually entered the narrow circle of photo festivals of international reputation. Photojournalism was not originally a buoyant theme, but through the visionary conduct of Roger Théron, the boss of Paris Match, the festival quickly took off and built an ever growing reputation.
From technical manager of the Perpignan town hall to the Presidency of Visa, the jump was not obvious, but it is with humility that Jean-Paul GRIOLET shadowy figure, gave his team perseverance and autonomy. Above all, it allowed the artistic director to express his choices independently and gave him the technical means for his development.
In 2015, we met to think about a scope of actions throughout the year. At the time, the lack of interest of the institutions for the safeguarding of the archives of photojournalists worried me already. I had particularly seen the extreme difficulty encountered by the family of Marc Riboud to find a refuge for all of his work – the Guimet Museum having finally, after ten negotiations, decided to take care of all his archives.
With Jean-Paul GRIOLET, we therefore jointly proposed to Jean-Marc Pujol, Mayor of Perpignan, to create the International Center for Photojournalism: his mission would be to welcome photographic collections from photojournalists and to make two historical exhibitions each year to create a library of images that would enrich itself over the years. We also had to solicit the entire community of press photographers but also more particularly photographers who had exhibitions at Visa, to entrust us with their archives or give us access to specific subject, likely to respond to the interest of researchers, specialists or students. We have also established very close relationships with the University of Perpignan, to develop tools for image education.
Since then and thanks to the commitment of Jean-Paul GRIOLET, we have organized a dozen major exhibitions, from documents presented by a historian, a journalist or a referent on these questions: the first exhibition was realized with the help of AFP the “return of the absent, prisoners of war of 39/45”, then it was the look of the Cuban photographer, companion of Castro from the Sierra Maestra, Jesse Fernandez with “the Cuban Revolution”, also Around the Caspian Sea, a road book of the eight countries bordering the closed sea of the great American photographer, Stanley Greene, deceased since, and the Spanish Civil War of 1936; and the Algerian war bringing together Depardon, Marc Riboud and Pierre Boulat, then Verdun and finally a retrospective of the great Swiss photographer Paul Senn, with the assistance of the Rivesaltes Memorial.
Jean-Paul Griolet fought like hell to put this new International Center for Photojournalism, created by the association Visa pour l’Image Perpignan, on the rails. We are all infinitely grateful to him. – Jean-François Camp
Jean-François Camp :
Former owner of the DUPON laboratories, sponsors of the Visa pour l’Image festival for 30 years, but also the Rencontres D’Arles, the Images and Nature Festival of La Gacilly, the Bayeux Prize for war correspondents.
Vice President of the association Visa pour l’Image, creator and in charge of the International Center for Photojournalism and CEO of DUREV Events dedicated to the promotion of the photographic image in Paris.
