“C’est beau, c’est grand, c’est généreux…. La France” said General de Gaulle in one of his speeches.
450 photographs, 200 photographers, a project spanning over three years, several state institutions involved: the Ministry of Culture, the Bibiothèque Nationale de France, a pharaonic budget to support the press profession. The result: “France under their eyes”, a massive exhibition at BnF François Mitterrand showing France as it is: grand, beautiful, generous. But one may add, very diverse, rich of cultures, sad at times. The rich and the poor, the young and the elderly, the straight, the bi, the gay, the employed and unemployed, the ones living in small towns or in banlieues, in Bask land, Brittany or Burgundy, the French people look at you in their immense diversity and reconcile you with your own country by telling their stories, deeply moving, always intriguing and interesting. What a trip! The exhibition is organized under four logical themes: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity – our own motto -, but with a fourth one, reflecting on the future: Potentialities. Gazing through 450 photographs seems like a daunting task, but it is not the case. The stories are captivating, one after another. Time passes without feeling it: We share resting time with the monks of the Strasburg cathedral, work with Christelle in Charlieu, fish on a boat with Camille, feed the pigs with Manuel at his farm of Rosnoën. We come out of this experience with a smile on the face: “C’est beau, c’est grand, c’est généreux…. La France”. A message with a striking relevance today…
