Saint-Nazaire, un voyage immobile

A great delicacy inhabits the images of Laure Bombail. The frame, always precise, gives them a perceptible fragility that contrasts with the harshness of its subject. The photographer knew how to find the poetic flaw, without losing herself in the easy romanticism that port cities often inspire.

Jean-Bernard Pouy's words are sensitive and correct, sometimes rough, and anchor the images in reality. Between an omnipresent past and a present that has difficulty in writing, he recalls the history of struggles, the history of the city.

"At the start, there is a worker's bar and the smell of a wet dog, the closed shutters repainted with the remains of the paint cans of the ships, the blues of the sky, the sea and the estuary and a few touches. of yellow.

I was struck by the natural poetry of Saint-Nazaire, its architecture, its plasticity, the gigantism of the shipyards, its dualities. A half-sweet, half-salty port city, with a tormented history, lurking on the edge of an estuary, symbol of social struggles and at the same time breathing, open to infinity, conducive to the imagination. I fell in love with Saint-Nazaire. "

Laure Bombail

"People here don't need to travel. They know very well that they would have to go elsewhere, and therefore, have become accustomed to traveling there. Perhaps because they have the huge boats under the sea. hand. Those who work at the Shipyards travel all the time, motionless. That is why they cry when they see these ships leaving that they will never take. "

Jean-Bernard Pouy

(Extracts from the text of the book)

76 pages - 45 photographss

Canvas blanket

Format 140 x 180 mm

Four-color printing

ISBN: 978-2-36510-066-3