Every year for the past few decades, Serge Assier has presented, outside of the official program, an exhibition on a theme or an homage, often in collaboration with a poet or writer.

This year, the exhibition is a double homage celebrating Fernando Arrabal’s 80th birthday and the eight or nine exhibition co-produced with him, from a behind-the-scenes look at Venice to the 20th Cannes festival and the “Cronaca di Roma”.

Sixteen pristine portraits stand out from the souvenir photos, documents, writings and letters. They bear witness to the distances traveled, the causes they fought for, the people they met, sitting on a gondola on the Grand Canal, tied to the Bastille for the “Instants de Chine”...

Those who know Arrabal’s work will see that this photograph is involved in his writing, in its meaning, even if the latter seems far removed from the original meaning of images.

Far from the programs and the beaten paths, far from the representation framed to the millimeter and carefully staged, far from the thirty years of perfectly dogmatic teaching, they are there to challenge, bringing their own meanings.

Bernard PERRINE
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Exhibition
Hommage à Fernando Arrabal pour ses 80 ans
Portraits, documents.
Until July 24, 2012
Galerie de la Maison de la Vie Associative
Boulevard des Lices
13200 Arles
+33 (0) 490 93 53 75
9am - 7pm

Publication
Assier – Arrabal 80
Exhibition catalogue
1000 copies
Published by Promotion de la Photographie en région PACA