A tribute to the Camargue, this is how Théo Giacometti presents his exhibition which is held until May 21 at the Tours and Remparts of Aigues-Mortes, and he adds:
“It is an island built by men’s dreams of conquest by means of dykes and dams. A wetland that struggles between the river and the sea, wedged between an aging seaside resort and a huge industrial complex. Acres of muddy marshes, salt plains, populated by voracious mosquitoes and wild birds, of course, but inhabited by powerful myths supported by extraordinary people who seem to be struggling today against the disappearance of their accursed paradise.
Attacked from all sides, by the sea erasing away the beaches, by progress which wants to raze the huts and the tourists who overwhelm the villages, the Camargue people try to keep alive a dream which is collapsing.
Of course we don’t know when, but we are sure, the water will break the dikes to find its place, in this large marsh where men wanted to settle. But then what, do we build dykes, again, or do we leave? We leave our homes, our land? To go where ?
The salt is already going further and further inland. The birds leave, the plants no longer grow. The concrete workers are ready to level the old world and bring down the fishermen’s huts before they are swallowed up by the sea.
So tell me, what does it feel like, a people who see themselves disappearing?”
Théo Giacometti
Théo Giacometti : Un jour ou l’autre, il faudra qu’il y ait la mer
from March 10 to May 21, 2023.
Tours et Remparts d’Aigues-Mortes (30)
https://www.aigues-mortes-monument.fr/
