Festival Marenda – nature photo exhibition in Argelès
Environmental awareness and sustainable development, here and abroad
Thanks to the yearly open-air photographic exhibition, Argelès sur Mer has become a key player in the field of environmental activism and sustainable development.
Back for its 13th edition, this recurring summer-long project was originally inspired by the outdoor photography exhibition, Vivants, in Paris back in 2007 and has become a collaborative effort, unique in France.
Renamed Argelès Photo Nature in 2018, and Festival Marenda in 2021, the project remains true to its original aims of engaging and educating visitors of all ages.
With exhibitions of nature photographs in large format, along with conferences and discussions from prestigious guests, this one of our must-do events for the summer.
As well as the Esplanade Charles Trenet (beach front), 3 other venues will be displaying the wonderful photographs: place Gambetta, plage Sud and the port so why not get out and about in Argelès this summer?
Find out about last year’s exhibition here.
This year’s theme is “Nature is watching” and the four superb exhibitions will run through summer and into autumn, closing finally on the 7th November.
The 200 giant prints (1.8 x 1.5 m) are expected to attract a whopping one million people over the 5 month duration.
Argelès’ deputy mayor, Julie Sanz explains that the exhibitions will take place in “places where people pass through, where they do not necessarily expect to find pictures representing the extraordinary variety of animals and the richness of life”. The aim is to “surprise in a positive way, to challenge passers-by” by depicting the rare and fragile beauty of our environment.
Additional exhibitions, including images from last year’s event are also on display. Many of the exhibitions are already in place but the official inauguration will take place on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th June.
Throughout the summer there will also be meetings with the photographers, workshops for school children, screenings at the Jaurès cinema and a release of sea turtles.
Ours et compagnie
Catherine et Rémy Marion, beach front
Catherine and Rémy Marion have been travelling through the Arctic regions for over 30 years. After dozens of trips, books and films, they have built up a vast collection of documentation and photo and video images, exhibited regularly in Montier-en-Der but also in Monaco, Geneva and Namur.
Bears are undoubtedly their favourite animals – white, brown, black, kermode – but obviously the Arctic and sub-Arctic fauna as well as the landscapes of these bewitching regions. Who better then to present the changes that are taking place in these wild lands?
Taïga
Thomas Roger & Olivier Larrey, beach front
10 years of work document in depth the secret world of the Taiga, a Russian wilderness that is home to an astonishing array of species. Bears, wolves, wolverines, elk, grouse… this exhibition showcases the changing seasons and colours, the backdrop to the beautiful adventures lived and told by the authors.
Explorer l'inexploré, les récifs coralliens
Alexis Rosenfeld, port
When we imagine coral reefs, our minds are filled with images of colourful corals surrounded by fish in the crystal clear waters of a tropical island.
Alexis Rosenfeld and Serge Planes, however, take us to the frontier of coral reef exploration. They share images that show the extraordinary diversity of Pacific coral reefs, the Amazonian reefs obscured by the green waters of the rainforest. They even take us down, into the abyss, where there is barely enough light for life to survive, and where the corals may hold secrets never before revealed.
Portraits sauvages
Michel d'Oultremont, place Gambetta.
A lover of nature since childhood, it was at the age of twelve that twelve years old that Michel tried a pair of binoculars for the first time. Ever since he has enjoyed roaming his native Belgian countryside in search of wild birds and mammals.
Attempting to portray the aestheticism of nature, Michel attempts to frame his subjects in the magical, fairy-tale landscapes they inhabit.
Free access
June – November
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