JEP 2022: favorites from the Femmes de Provence exhibition

EUROPEAN HERITAGE DAYS 2022

Femmes de Provence: photo exhibition favourites

JEP2022 - WOMEN OF PROVENCE EXHIBITION POSTER

Six guides gave tours of the "Femmes de Provence" exhibition during Heritage Days in September 2022. Our six volunteers chose from among the 63 photos on display by André Abbe. They recount their favorite photos and the anecdotes they evoke.
Stories by Christèle Henriot, Nadia Nanot, Nadine Bérenguier, Jean-Pierre Serra, André Abbe and François Abbe.

6 GUIDES, 6 FAVORITE PHOTOS

WOMEN OF PROVENCE EXHIBITION JEP 22

A woman brings flowers to the Good Mother in the Vallée du Cians - September 1995 - Photo André Abbe

What I like about this photo is the mix of worlds and fashions. On the one hand, it shows an elderly lady honoring the Virgin Mary by laying flowers at the foot of an oratory, a practice that denotes her belonging to a traditional Catholic world. On the other hand, objects from another age - a plastic supermarket bag and Converse sneakers - intrude into this world, symbols of modernity that contrast with the values represented by this lady. This somewhat unusual juxtaposition caught my attention.

Nadine Bérenguier

The framing, the color (which comes out so much better on paper), the action. I like everything about it.

It's the fisherman's wife assisting her husband. We're in the 80s. Many women had their own trades. But here we're assisting the husband's trade. And this woman puts her heart into it. This gives the story a collegial dimension...

Christèle Henriot

WOMEN OF PROVENCE EXHIBITION JEP22

Remaillage des filets à Villefranche sur Mer (Alpes Maritimes) par Mme Roux, épouse de pêcheur, sur le quai du port - 1995 - Photo André Abbe

Mesdames Brunel washing clothes in the river in 1988 at Roquebrune sur Argens in Provence - Photo André Abbe

A spring gushes down from the brown rock. The women of Roquebrune come with their large shopping bags. The gentle sound of the water greets them, and gradually gives way to the brisk beating of the beaters, mingled with the early song of the stream. A strong harmony unites them. On the blessed bank, kneeling on the rock, barefoot and bare-armed, the women with their weathered complexions, their weary faces brightened by the dawning spring sun.
Time suspended, washing in the large iron basin on the fresh grass. Soon blued by the still-cold spring on this clear morning, Maurette stretches out her arms, welcoming them, tinting the long streams of water in this transparent space. It offers the promise of a time of palaver.

In the shade of the tall trees, they'll spend the morning there, then head back to the kitchen to tend the cooking pot. The meal is ready... Some take care of the laundry for others, while the spring makes a soft sound of trembling bells that laughter and sometimes misery spread as if to exorcise the days gone by.

Soon the spring will soothe the aches of these mothers, these women who meet at La Maurette... The stream resumes its course with promises of more to come very soon. With their hearts soothed and their laundry to dry, these women take up their burdens with the grace of a May painting, letting the morning slip by, letting the echo of the beaters.
Their hearts lighter, their beautiful arms still dripping with water droplets under the midday sun.

Nadia Nanot

Gaby, a German grape-picker, helps André Abbe place the host, known as canestèu, on his shoulder. At the family Bastide in Roquebrune-sur-Argens (1982)
Gaby, a German grape-picker, helps André Abbe place the host, known as canestèu, on his shoulder. At the family Bastide in Roquebrune-sur-Argens (1982) - Photo André Abbe

It's always a moving experience for me to return to this 16th-century family home, after having first reminded myself of our village's thousand-year history by taking a stroll through its historic heart, and to comment on the more than sixty photos hanging on these walls steeped in history... Once again this year, many of them took me back to periods of my life, full of wonderful memories, since the 70s were "those of my 20s", the 80s "those of my children" and the 90s "those of the First Magistrate" of this Commune where I was "born", where I grew up and where I've always lived...

It's always fascinating for me to share a few anecdotes about these scenes from the daily lives of the women of Provence, but also about some of the highlights of village life in our Commune, our Département and even our Region, as well as about ancestral activities and/or traditions that we hold dear... All the more so as the group I guided this year included women who had shared some of these slices of life, as well as one of my friends, a "troupelen", a "felibre" and still involved in Tropezian traditions, who is far more competent than I am to comment on scenes of bravado and/or Provençal festivities...

So it's not easy to isolate some of the photos or scenes of daily life and meet the demands of this exercise in reconstruction... So I'll start by mentioning a few of the highlights that I've commented on with more personal anecdotes...
The first is, of course, harvest time, so much a part of my youth, having shared it with various teams on the Argens plain or on the hillsides of Roquebrun, pruning shears in hand or "canestéou" on the shoulder, even at the wheel of a tractor, or in the family warehouse loading and unloading crates for the "wine grape" seasons...

Jean-Pierre Serra

JEP22 FEMMES DE PROVENCE RECONSTITUTION

Liberation re-enactment at Le Muy (Var) - Photo André Abbe

This photo by André Abbe is timeless. It is one of the rare digital photos in the "Femme de Provence" exhibition. The Liberation re-enactment in the village of Le Muy (Var) inspires. So inspiring, in fact, that an incredible number of visitors thought they recognized a relative, or even an ancestor.

The funniest anecdote: the colors are reminiscent of an old photo, even though the picture dates back to the 2000s. However, someone recognized a distant relative. The person thought the photo dated from August 15, 1944. In fact, the photographer was born on August 17... 1944 (the day Roquebrune sur Argens was liberated!). The myth lives on!

François Abbe

This photo was taken towards the end of a winter afternoon, in the garrigue of Uzès. It has a painterly quality, with low-angled light playing across the foliage; the shepherdess, elegant in her cape, and her goats seem to be taking a break. And yet, as usual, I hadn't organized or staged anything (assuming you could get goats to pose). This lady produced delicious pélardons.

It's also a memory of my younger days, around 1980, when I reported on the countryside for the agricultural press with my 4L van.
You may say that the Pays d'Uzès is not part of administrative Provence. But we speak the same Provençal here as in Arles and Saint Rémy. We're in Provençal Gard. That's why I took the liberty of annexing it.

André Abbe

Shepherdess in the garrigue at Bourdiguet (Gard) in the 80s - Photo André Abbe

Your opinion on the "Femmes de Provence" exhibition

Beautiful exhibition! Too bad we didn't get to meet André... So "à l'an que ven" en prouvencau ..... Thanks again for sharing this wonderful moment

Élise S.

Thank you so much! What a wonderful exhibition! What's remarkable about André's photos is that he shows us Provence as it really is, far from the tourist clichés and bling. People we've known.... And what a thrill to be back in this beautiful village!

Philippe P.

Gramaci André ! Beautiful exhibition !!!

Aline N.

SOME PHOTOS OF THE 2022 HERITAGE DAYS

THE THEME OF PHOTO EXPO 2023 SOON TO BE ANNOUNCED

Roquebrune en images, Femmes de Provence et après?

We're thinking about the theme, which photographers to involve and how to finance the exhibition.

To help finance Expo 2023, we're offering souvenirs from Provence for sale.

PHOTO EXPO 2023 NEEDS YOUR HELP!

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Support the next photo exhibition with our handcrafted products ❤️ !

Our book is printed in the Tarn, our postcards in the Alpes Maritimes and our essential oil diffuser is designed and baked in the Île de France.

100% of the proceeds from our Provence souvenirs will go towards financing the next photo exhibition in 2023.