Dear Friends,


Last October, I gave a lecture at the Lyon Opera which was hosting my exhibit, Between Wars and Peace, on the power of images to effect social change during the Rencontres de la Communication et de la Solidarité Internationale (“Festival of Communication and International Solidarity”).

The Festival

Well before my lecture started, I saw a couple come in with their children. They took a seat in the first row. As I often do, while I am speaking, I get caught up in the energy of the public. On that day, I was transfixed by the intense gaze of this family seated at the foot of the stage. I felt that we we all bound by an invisible thread, and their attention inspired me.
After the presentation, I watched the room slowly empty, as one does a ritual observed many times, and the people, both close friends or total strangers, who remained to prolong our exchange. The couple and their children came up to me. Their faces still reflected the intense emotions our exchange had evoked.

The Invitation

The woman shook my hand and introduced herself. She and her family had made the journey from her nearby village of Roanne in order to participate in the conference. Catherine Angel said to me, “We are so happy to meet you. We have been following your work for a long time.” Head of the Phot’Objectif Mably club, she had proposed that her group of photographers do a project focused around my reportages, and hoped to welcome me one day to Mably.
It made me think of so many generous invitations that I am far too often forced to decline, due to lack of time, but, touched by her words, I immediately responded, “For you, I will come.”

The Exhibit

Thus it was that the Photo Club of Mably, and the Centre Hospitalier of Roanne now proposes this series, Crossing Destinies (destinies encountered along the crossroads of the world over three decades). My various paths have taken me from encounters with children, men and women, whose unique destinies have left a profound impression upon me. I feel close to each of them, their images testify to my rôle as a silent witness. They are so many bridges between individuals, peoples and cultures. The exhibit Crossing Destinies is dedicated to these children and to their parents, whose paths crossed mine one autumn evening in Lyon. It is the story of the human family, our family.

Crossing Destinies

Crossing Destinies

L’Espace de la Tour – Mairie de Mably / 5, rue du Parc 42300 Mably
Centre Hospitalier de Roanne / 28, rue de Charlieu 42300 Roanne
Free Admission
6 April to 28 April 2013

This post is also available in: French