They had not imagined such an ending. Around ten volunteers and members of the Photographic Promenades gathered on Wednesday October 30, in Blois, for a general assembly which became a farewell meeting.
The photography festival, of which eighteen editions were organized in Vendôme and two in Blois, ceased its activities after the eponymous association was placed in liquidation on October 24. “During August, we realized that the financial situation was starting to become very complicated”rewound Frédéric Pasco-Werlé, president of the association, who recalled that it was decided to “submit a liquidation application file” in court so as not to take further financial risks in the months to come.
He also took stock, with Cédric Marmuse, director since March, and Odile Andrieu Verguin, founder of the event and artistic director, on the last year of the association. The opportunity for the members present to revisit their connection with the festival and open the memory box.
“I could make a book about it”smiles Odile Andrieu Verguin, who created the festival in 2005. The idea of this photography enthusiast, who worked in the press for fifteen years, was to respond to a request from photographers who wanted a festival “transversal and without themes”.
In total, the Photographic Walks exhibited the work “of a thousand artists”. If she couldn't “show off all the great proposals we received”Odile Andrieu Verguin especially remembers “magnificent encounters”the will “to do together”with the festival teams, “and to create a link”.
Students, bull and skateboard
She also recalls that the festival brought together many young artists via “two unique programs” : the Mark-Grosset prize and the Campus. The first, for which a total of 340 people competed, rewarded 32 winners, “some of whom have made beautiful journeys”. The second – around 180 participants – brought together students from different countries around a collective work. “They learned to create together and stayed in touch: that makes me proud! »
The artistic director also shares some memories, like when in 2013, a family of farmers brought a 1,600 kg bull into the small Rochambeau riding school, for the exhibition The people here… Intimate portrait of Loir-et-Cher, or when some smart guys sneaked in to turn the place into a skateboard track. She also retains “the welcome from Blésois was great”in 2023 and 2024, and “the rather incredible openness of cultural actors”.
In 2013, a bull and a farming family were photographed by Peter Knapp.
© (Photo Odile Andrieu Verguin)
Committed to the association for ten years, Frédéric Pasco-Werlé explains that the Promenades “are going to mark it all [sa] vie ». He retains “incredible discoveries” and actions involving people going “from college students or people in difficult social situations to incredible photographers: that’s all that made it so rich.”
A volunteer since the beginning of the event, Marie-Claude Dubut highlights “team spirit” while the Vendômois Frédéric Freschi and Blésoise Armelle Flahault discuss in particular “exhibition locations” and the atmosphere that was “very nice”.
“The structure stops, not the photo”
If everyone is sad to see the festival end, all is not over for the Promenades, whose exhibition on Edward Sheriff Curtis, displayed this summer at the Blois natural history museum, is on display until March at Artplexe Canebière cinema in Marseille. “It’s the structure that stops, not the photo”specifies Cédric Marmuse.
Indeed, Odile Andrieu Verguin recalls that there is “a desire of local actors and individual people” to organize things, in a different form, around photography in Blois, “so that what was planted grows again”.
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