In the Pagny family, if you ask for the daughter, it’s Ael. A photographer who nevertheless likes to place herself far from clichés since her childhood. It was first with the help of her mobile phone that she discovered this profession by capturing moments and moments of adolescent life. An atypical adolescence with, just like her mother and father, a real desire to be independent, autonomous and therefore to grow up quickly. At 16, she left for boarding school and took off for New York. She spent five years at an art school where she studied photography. Today, at 25, she published her first work Pagny by Ael published by HarperCollins.
franceinfo: This book is a declaration of love to the one who set out to give you life, to raise you with his values, his view of the world from your mother’s Patagonia. It is your father, Florent Pagny, who opens this book and he thanks you for having been there, and for having been present and modesty. Isn’t that what defines him above all?
Ael Pagny: Yes, it’s true that it defines him and it also defines us as a family. Afterwards, it must also be in our DNA to be modest and present.
Your father turned 60, so the desire to do the tour that went with it. It was naturally together, without any pun intended, that you decided that you would be present and that you were going to be the memory of this event. Is it difficult to photograph your own father?
Precisely, as I am a fairly reserved and shy person and I take photos so as not to have to talk, doing it with my father meant that I stayed in my comfort zone a little more because it is family and that I’m used to. Afterwards, what is difficult is finding the right moment and the right situation.
“My father is the same at home as he is on stage or on television. There is really no separation. He has always been very honest and true to himself.”
When you went on tour with your father, there was this announcement which shocked the French. We learned that the man we considered to be indestructible was suffering from an illness. There is a photo that is poignant, it is the one where he passes this famous scanner. And we understand through this photo to what extent he, from the start, was determined. Did it touch you that he was so strong?
It touched me, but it didn’t surprise me that much because he remains true to himself and it was obvious for him to share it. It’s not easy to hide and even if you’re modest, it’s a reality that affects not just him, but many people. We were happy to see that people found themselves there and felt less alone. For him, it was obvious to share it, but we saw the effect it had and we still said to ourselves: “In fact, it’s not that easy to share something so sad“.
We have the impression that it changed your outlook on life, that you realized that you had to enjoy the present moment. You also say: “The team was recomposed“through this work.
Afterwards, the four of us have always been a team and a very close-knit family, so it wasn’t difficult for us to stay together and experience it together. Yes, it really reinforced who we were.
“We tend to live in the present as it is, but it is certain that with this illness, we live in the present even more and we try not to project ourselves too far ahead because we never know what will happen. will happen.”
The strongest photo in this work is the one where he is at the top of the lighthouse at Mont Saint-Michel. There is a crow and you mention it by saying that it is the curse that escaped. This photo is very symbolic.
This is my favorite photo because of its composition and the chance I had to be able to capture it in the geometry of the image. But it’s true that yes, it is very strong and I like that it has several interpretations, that everyone can get out of it, what they want. But it’s true that the black crow in the image makes you want to interpret it that way, the curse that goes away. That’s also what I like about photography, it’s that everyone interprets the images as they want, they feel them like songs.
There are several reasons why he was able to fight. His character and then his family, the audience that he loves terribly and the stage. We understand through your photos to what extent the scene is what gives him a real reason to live. It’s his biggest playground.
Yes, the synchronicity of love that he received from his fans, from the public or from the people of France in general, you could feel it with all the messages, all the comments, all the vibrations. But it’s true that when he came back on stage, the energy of the audience was really high. Even if his audience was always very warm and present, when he got back on stage, we felt this relief to see him on stage again and for him this relief to be on stage and the joy shared, it was beautiful to experience.
