“I take photos so I don’t have to talk”: Ael Pagny publishes a book about his father, Florent Pagny

This is the first time she has spoken on television. On the occasion of the release of a book dedicated to his father, Ael Pagny gives news of Florent Pagny and honors his first name, which means the angel-messenger. In this work soberly named Pagny by Ael (ed. Harper Collins), the 25-year-old young woman reveals the photos she took during her tour to celebrate the singer’s 60th birthday, in 2021. A tour abruptly interrupted in January 2022 by illness…

“I started taking photos around 12 or 13 when I got my first phone. It was mostly landscapes because I was in high school in Argentina”confides the young woman to Audrey Crespo-Mara in the video at the top of this article, replay of the “Portrait of the week” broadcast this Sunday in “Sept à Huit”. “I take photos so I don’t have to talk, because I find myself quite shy and introverted”she confesses.

At 16, she left Patagonia for New York

Passionate about photography, at the age of 16 she decided to leave Patagonia and her parents to attend the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York. “When my brother Inca left to study, I became the only child at home, and I really didn’t want that. So I asked to go to boarding school.”remembers the young woman who chose New York “because of movies and fashion”. “And I loved it!”admits Ael who discovers that she can turn her passion into a profession.

I’m so happy to have parents who love each other so much and who never give up on each other.

Ael Pagny

It is therefore quite natural that Florent Pagny entrusts his daughter with following him on his 60th birthday tour. Aged 22, she accepts without hesitation. “He’s a cool, very caring father who lets us do what we do. He’s not strict, but at the same time he protects us from afar without being intrusive,” explains Ael, who loves photographing his parents together. “They’re so cute! They’re my example of a couple. I’m so happy to have parents who love each other so much and who never give up on each other”continues the young woman who wants to keep as many images as possible of this close-knit family.

Much like his older Inca brother, Ael has always navigated between two cultures with ease. “We learned French and Spanish at the same time. We love being in Argentina. My mother likes to say that we are more Argentinian than she is! I can’t describe what I like about both cultures, I’m so much merged them”she admits.

I didn’t see the sick man, I just took a picture of my dad

Ael Pagny

When the family learned that Florent Pagny had inoperable lung cancer – which he nicknamed “the switch” – it was a shock. “He called it that because when we learn about the illness, it puts a pause in our daily lives. It interrupts everything we’re doing and we move on to another adventure that we weren’t didn’t want to live. She continues to photograph him despite everything, even if she puts down her camera when he is at his worst.

After several months of chemotherapy, they go for a trip to Mont-Saint-Michel, a place that the coach of “The Voice” likes, to take a series of photos with his new appearance. “I didn’t see the sick man, I was just taking a picture of my dad. I think it reassured him. The change in appearance was a shock for him, because he wasn’t happy about losing his beard , his mustache and his hair, I still found him handsome, but it was a change of look that he didn’t choose, he who had so many in his life.”.

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Despite several relapses – “this is the reality of this illness, we are never completely calm” – Florent Pagny is doing well today. “Not long ago, he had another exam and everything is fine. We’re waiting for the next one in three months, but for now, we’re happy”smiles the young woman, determined to savor the present moment.