Lumières des saintes

Lumières des saintes, Le pèlerinage des gitans aux Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer : une histoire photographique – One hundred years of images of a mythical pilgrimage. An object of fascination, the pilgrimage to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where Saint Sara is honored by Gypsies, Manouches, Roma and travelers from all over Europe, has attracted the greatest photographers for over a hundred years. In this book, Ilsen About, a historian of the Roma world, brings together some twenty portfolios from the early 20th century to the present day. They feature artists such as Lucien Clergue, Sabine Weiss, Erwin Blumenfeld, Jean Dieuzaide and Martine Franck, as well as anonymous members of gypsy communities. In a fascinating essay, Ilsen About looks back at the origins of this pilgrimage and the powerful attraction it exerts. He explores the components and evolution of the relationship between photographers and models, in a historical context marked by exclusion. The author sheds light on the ambiguity of the links forged between the viewer and the viewee, a face-to-face encounter in the form of a fool’s game.