“My father came to Madagascar from China in the 1930s, during the Sino-Japanese conflict. He settled in Farafangana, on the southeast coast. I thus spent my childhood at the edge of the sea, rubbing shoulders with fishermen, men and women, their children with whom I played, even if my father was a trader, and all the people whose profession was related to the sea. The seashore place of meetings, reunions and games for the child that I was. When I became a photographer, after having been a painter for seventeen years, I naturally wanted to photograph them, thinking back to my childhood. With the desire to show their life, their work, as well as their courage to face the sea often in very bad conditions. Scenes of daily life for fishermen.”
This is how Pierrot Men evokes his link to the sea, a central element in the life of his island, Madagascar, and its inhabitants. An omnipresent element in his photographic approach over the years. Within the series he invites you to discover here, four more recent photographs (2021), relate to the Sambatra, a traditional event of the Antambahoaka, inhabitants of the Mananjary region, on the south-eastern coast of Madagascar. Every seven years, and for four weeks, the community celebrates, with the collective circumcision of little boys, their transition to adulthood and their integration into the community.
Saison Photo de l’Epau 2022
Until November 6th, 2022
Abbaye Royale de l’Epau
Route de Changé
72530 Yvré l’Evêque
0243842229
https://epau.sarthe.fr/
