Our favourite photos of the exhibition « Women of Provence »
Six guides visited the exhibition « Women of Provence » during the Heritage Days in September 2022. Our six volunteers selected from the 63 photos displayed. They tell their favorite photos and the anecdotes she evokes. Stories by Christèle Henriot, Nadia Nanot, Nadine Bérenguier, Jean-Pierre Serra, André Abbe and François Abbe.
Christele: Fisherman's wife
The framing, the color (which comes out so much better on paper), the action. I like everything in this picture.
The fisherman's wife helps her husband. It's the '80s. Many women had their own jobs. But here we are in the accompaniment of the husband's profession. And this woman puts her whole heart in it. It gives a collegial dimension to this story...
Beetle pie
You smell like a woman. Who are these people around? The picture makes it feel like she's a recognized woman. When you know that her specialty is the cake with the cakes, you want to say ma'am hat. Here we find the pride and modesty of the mountain people.
Grandma in Converse
She's a little, little, ugly grandma. She comes to the oratory, very believing. Nice precautions, with his apron. And the detail: the rebel with Converse feet. I think it's exceptional! There!!
« This lady is terrible. » entrusted a Belgian woman who visited the exhibition.
Horse
She's not a shepherdess, she's a chevrière. A cape that transposes in ancient times. We don't know his face. A woman who invests in a hard job that is practiced. His presence surrounded by his goats in the forest. Courage. She lives her passion. Is that not true?
In the arms of the Maurette
A loose spring of brown rock,
The girls of Roquebrune come with their big bass,
The soft water noise welcomes them,
And gradually gives way to the sharp blows of the battlers where the bust is mixed
What does the stream do so early,
It is a strong harmony that unites them.
On the blessed shore,
Kneeling on the rock, bare feet and bare arms,
The girls with a burin complexion, the face lightened by the emerging spring sun.
The suspended time, a laundry in the wide iron basin deposited in
fresh grass,
Soon blued by this still cold spring, this clear morning
The Maurette extends her arms, welcomes them dyeing the long water fillets in
this transparent space
He offers the promise of a time of palace,
In the shade of the big trees,
They will spend the morning there and go back to the pot,
The meal is ready,
Some take care of laundry for others,
While the source makes a soft noise of trembling bells
Let the laughter and sometimes the words of misery come out,
Confessed as if to exorcise past days.
Soon the source will come to appease the evils of these mothers, women who
meet at La Maurette;
The stream resumes its course with promises to tell others very
Soon,
Soothed heart and dry linen,
These women with the grace of a May painting
Resuming their burden of running out in the morning that sifting leaving echo of
Fighters.
The lighter heart, their beautiful arms still flowing with water droplets,
Under the noon sun.
Nadia NANOT
Some anecdotes of the daily life of the Women of Provence
A great happiness and especially a great privilege that this year, having been able to have a niche to make discover to a group of friends and very dear friends, the photo exhibition of André « Dédé » ABBE, proposed by the Association « Abbe Photo » in the framework of European Heritage Days on the theme « Women of Provence – 1970/2000 » ...
Always moving for me to find this 16th century Family House, after having previously recalled the millennial past of our Village by a walk in its Historical Heart, and to be able to comment on the more than sixty photos hung on these walls full of history ...
Especially since this year again, many of them have brought me back to periods of my life, filled with magnificent memories, since the 1970s were « 20 years old », the 1980s « my children's » and the 1990s « First Magistrates » of this Commune where I am « born », where I grew up and where I've always lived...
Always as exciting for me as giving some anecdotes on these scenes of the daily life of the Women of Provence, but also on some of these highlights of the life of the villages of our Commune, our Department or even our Region, as well as on ancestral activities and/or traditions that are dear to us ...
As much as the group that I guided this year included women who had shared some of these life segments, but also one of my friends « trouplen », « Fiber » and always an actor of the Tropezian traditions much more competent than I to comment on the scenes of bravades and/or Provencal holidays ...
Not obvious therefore dissipate, some of the photos or some of the scenes of daily life and meet the requirements of this restitution exercise ...
Also, I will first remember some of the highlights I commented on with more personal anecdotes ...
Harvest
The first is of course the time of harvest, as he has rhythmed most of my youth, for having shared it with various teams in the plain of the Argens or on the hills of Roquebruno, secateur by hand or « canesteo » on the shoulder, or even on the wheel of a tractor, or in the family warehouse by loading and unloading the crates for the « wine grapes » ...
Harvest
The second is that of the emblematic manifestations, which were our « Corsos Fleuris » during the « Mid Lent »but also « The Artisan Fair » become « Craft days »then « Arts Days », and « Day of May 1st » in La Roquette or these votive festivals of our villages where the competitions of balls, especially the Provencal game (NDLR: in the long run) ») were an integral part of the festivities ...
Miquèla Bramerie
Finally, it is with a reference to one of the great ladies of the Provencal and Occitane song, that I wish to conclude ...
Indeed, through these photos with his group « The Chapacans » at a concert at the Holy Baume, which I found with others « figures » Varoese and/or Occitans, we had shared through their compositions, these struggles for the identity of our Provence, for the preservation of our language, for the defense of Occitanie and our traditions, so dear to our hearts in our youth, but also today ...
It is Miquelà BRAMERIE, who, moreover, honored with his presence the following day ...
A great congratulations to the entire team for the work accomplished ...
Many thanks to François and « Dédé » for this tasting of « Madeleines de Proust » always as tasty and more shared with loved ones ...
To next year certainly ...
Jean-Pierre SERRA
Liberation or reconstitution?
This photo by André Abbe is timeless. She is one of the few digital photos of the exhibition « Woman of Provence ». The reconstitution of the Liberation in the village of Muy (Var) inspires. It inspires so much that an incredible number of visitors thought they recognized a parent or an ancestor.
The funniest anecdote: colors make you think of an ancient photo. The photo dates back to the 2000s. However, someone recognized a distant parent. The person thought the photo dated August 15, 1044. The photographer was born on August 17, 1944 (Day of the Liberation of Roquebrune-sur-Argens!). The myth is still running!
François Abbe
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