In the viewfinder of Pierre Maraval

This will be the event of the beginning of the year. Photographer Pierre Maraval will take portraits of a thousand Tonnerrois and Tonnerroises, from Monday January 27 to Monday March 31. An XXL shooting at the Dormois pavilion of the Tonnerrois hospital center, with a view to an exhibition, or rather an installation, entitled “Tonnerre x 1,000”, in June at the Hôtel-Dieu.

“A landscaper of humans”

Pierre Maraval defines himself as “a human landscaper”. He has long been interested in the concept of networks. This interest pushed him, in the 1990s, to want to portray people linked together, belonging to the same community or cultivating a common passion. He then abandoned painting and turned to photography. “The aesthetics of photography don’t interest me much, I only use it as a means serving the concept of networks. » Armed with a Polaroid, he took an interest in women and photographed a thousand of them, who had not been chosen but had chosen each other. A network is thus born by talking to each other, through knowledge. A form of co-optation through word of mouth. Famous as well as anonymous, they met in his studio. The exhibition was presented on the walls of UNESCO and the Palais des Congrès in Paris.

He has since moved to digital photography and generally exhibits his works in large spaces, even outdoors. Exhibitions have been held in major cities around the world: Havana, Marseille, Montreal, Toronto, Paris and the latest, in 2023, in Venice.

Pierre Maraval set down his bags more than two years ago in Tonnerrois. He fell in love with its landscapes but also with the people who live there. “It is the Tonnerrois in their great diversity, their bond, that I want to show. It’s my way of participating in this influence of the territory, he says. It must be a moment of pleasure and kindness during the shooting and a moment of sharing throughout the creative process, until the moment of the opening, which will be a big celebration where we wait between a thousand and two thousand people. »

This artistic work is not a beauty contest. “It’s the diversity of each person that is interesting. People must come as they are, without preconceptions about their image. There is no judgment. It is essential that Tonnerrois of all ages and from all backgrounds come, even children. And fifty-two municipalities in the territory. » Only one thing is desired by the artist: “Dare to use colors. »

For the photo shoots and for this grandiose installation, we needed a location the size of the event. Quite naturally, he thought of the Hôtel-Dieu which is the emblematic monument of the city and the largest hospital in Europe built in the Middle Ages. He then turned to the owner of the site, the hospital center, who decided to play the game. The Tonnerrois community of communes in Burgundy also followed suit and supports this unique operation on the scale of its territory.