CAMARGUE COLOR. The Saintes pilgrimage in the viewfinder of photographer Jean-Louis Aubert

Aux Saintes, le jour du pèlerinage, toutes sortes de rencontres improbables. – Jean-Louis Aubert

Le photographe Jean-Louis Aubert a publié un livre sur le grand rendez-vous des Saintes-Marie-de-la-mer.

In addition to being the Midi Libre correspondent for Quissac, Jean-Louis Aubert is passionate about photos and the author of several books. Between causses and mountains of the Cévennes or traditions and landscapes of the Camargue, his heart does not waver, he chooses both. A few days before the Saintes-Maries-de-la-mer pilgrimage (1), he evokes images from a book published by Complices éditions Les Saintes-Maries de la mer: pilgrimages, gypsy fervor, Camargue piety.

Jean-Louis Aubert is a photographer, and also correspondent for Midi Libre.

A place that I love very much

"This is a report that I see as a tribute to a place that I love enormously, Saintes-Maries-de-la- sea. For a photographer, the reception received, the agreement with the subject, are decisive factors which influence the content of the report. The slightest manifestation of distrust, or even hostility, on the part of models has a paralyzing effect, he warns in the preamble.
At Les Saintes, those who come to honor and pray to Sara, Marie Jacobé and Marie Salomé have diverse origins. The pilgrimages of May and October are for him “linked in an inescapable way, as these two cultures, although they are different, almost divergent, forever unite Camarguais and gypsies."

Guitar notes in the church or on the beach, one of the many manifestations of faith and sharing.
The observer "without a priori" who is Jean-Louis Aubert, notes that when the statue of Saint-Sara descends among his people, the looks and gestures of fervor are striking. "I’had the same feeling during my first report when I was taking photos for a collection of postcards in Lourdes. During a concelebrated mass in the square, I was gripped by emotion. It is this emotion and this fervor that I felt each time, at Saintes-Maries, during the descent of the shrines and the procession to the sea."
The author does not ignore the "promotional character for the city", the economic benefits and "the clingy and cheeky fortune tellers", but wanting to twist the neck of a few clichés, he adds "there is no more risk of being confronted with a pickpocket in Les Saintes during these days than in Nîmes or Montpellier on an ordinary Saturday. Moreover, although reputations are tenacious, the crime rate is the same in the gypsy community as among sedentary people."

The pilgrimage brings together the gypsy community in its great diversity every year in May.
The eye in the lens, the photographer nonetheless has ears, sensitive to the guitar notes that play and with them &amp ;quot;a little eternity, and a lot of human warmth and these profane manifestations are perhaps not far from the spirit of the pilgrim who follows the shrines of Saintes-Maries. It is for all these reasons that the atmosphere of the Saintes-Maries pilgrimages is unique and fascinating."

(1) The pilgrimage will take place on May 24 and 25. Friday May 24, mass at 10 a.m., descent of the shrines at 3:30 p.m., procession to the sea with Saint Sara at 4 p.m., vigil at the sanctuary in the presence of the shrines . Saturday May 25, mass at 10 a.m., procession to the sea with the boat of Saints Mary Salomé and Marie Jacobé at 11 a.m., raising of the shrines at 3:30 p.m. Sunday May 26, at 10:30 a.m., Provencal mass at the sanctuary for Baroncelli Day. I subscribe to read more