A team behind the book « Women of Provence » photos of André Abbe

A woman behind the book Femmes de Provence

Marielle Fanchtein is the artistic director responsible for the coherence of the Abbe Photo project. She creates visual elements, such as this kakemono (or roll-up) and hat 87000, as well as the book.

The book is the fruit of months of effort: François and André Abbe carefully examined the 13,000 digitized photographs from 1970 to 2000. They made a selection for the planned exhibition at the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions in Draguignan in 2024. Then François (author of this article!) collaborated with Stephanie Dahan, Head of Heritage and Museums in Dracénie Provence Verdon Agglomeration.

We finally chose about thirty photos for the 2024 exhibition. Then, twelve people each selected a photo for the book "Women of Provence". You can read the texts of these people on our website (texts will be published as they progress until the release of the book on 25/11/2023).

André wrote a short text for the book, then Louis Scotto translated it into Provençal. François then translated it into English (with the help of Deepl!).

Marielle created a map to locate the 12 photos of the book.

Then Marielle gathered the photos, texts and legends to put the book on the page. Once completed, the Escourbiac printer in the Tarn (Occitanie) took over.

Finally, the banner (kakemono) and hats were printed by Jacques Fabre and his daughter Aurélie Fabre.

Crealead at the heart of the Women of Provence book project

The texts accompanying the 12 photos of the book are available on the website of the Abbe Photo Association (the one you are viewing).

The site requires the expertise of several people to function. Among them, Valérie Cheventner deals with rendering and user experience. Sébastien Marinier set up the online shop. On the site you can also find recent photos of Fabien Wacjman, who photographed the village of Roquebrune on Argens (Var) and the photo exhibition "The Art of Living in Provence" in the Abbe House.

With regard to the Instagram page, Chloé Briquet contributes to the development of the Provence Heritage page. This page was launched in July 2023 by volunteer Emily Keliher, who spent two months in Roquebrune helping the project. You will find texts in English on this page, while the French versions are published on the Facebook page of the other association, Passadoc.

Who funds all these Abbe Photo projects?

In 2023 François financed the projects of the Abbe Photo association through his professional company, Crealead. But why?

Let's go back:

• 2016 : Creation of the Passadoc association.
• 2019 Passadoc has the status of general interest, similar to organisations such as the Red Cross or Telethon. Now Passadoc's resources come from donations and memberships, and the sale of books becomes impossible.
• 2021 : To launch books and other products, the Abbe Photo Association (officially called Istoria Fotografi) is created. François subscribes a personal loan of 9000€, and André also contributes financially.
• 2022 : The new exhibition on Heritage Days requires additional financial resources. François sought help from his own company, Crealead. The income generated by his professional activities in the media is used to finance the project, including the exhibition "Women of Provence" at Maison Abbe.
• 2023 : The painter who occupied the art gallery "L€ the association. This endangers the financing of the next book. François again relies on his company, Crealead. Books are produced and sold by François via Crealead. Each book funds the scanning of 5 photos from archive.

The loop is closed

Why? Because André Abbe's health is staggering. There are still 87,000 photos to digitize, dating from 1970 to 2000. Among them are treasures: regions of the world not photographed at the time, unknown activities, portraits of people in Provence and all over the world, truly unique. If we do not act quickly, part of our heritage will disappear.

Our hypothesis: 1% of the photos are exceptional. There is only one way to identify them: digitize all of the 100,000 photos, then sort and document while André is still craving, energy, and above all health.

The challenge is launched: digitize 87,000 photos of André Abbe!

When? If we continue at the current pace, the preservation of the photographic background will be digitized late in 2030. Seven more years, it seems very far away. But we can do better. Abbe Photo must speed up the pace. How? Thanks to you! Please spread the word!

PS: The Passadoc Gazette appears on the Abbe Photo site every Saturday. To receive it by email, write to francois @ abbe.photo (no cedilla, remove the spaces in the address).