Raymond Depardon: Communes

A photographic essay on Southern France's neglected but characterful villages
In Communes, French photographer Raymond Depardon (born 1942) explores the villages of the Mediterranean inland region, in the South of France. These villages have long been abandoned, threatened by the “Nant concession,” a shale gas extraction project that was heavily protested by inhabitants and finally abandoned in 2015. Since then, the villages, with their cobbled streets and old houses with jagged facades and scanty windows, have once again become inhabited by people. The villages represent havens where tranquility and cool prevail.
The black-and-white photographs that comprise this work were made after the first lockdown, during the summer of 2020, a backdrop that highlights the isolation of life in these small villages. The regions pictured include the south of the Massif Central in Aveyron, Lozère, Gard and Hérault.\nFrom the Back Cover\nCommunes est un essai photographique de Raymond Depardon sur les villages de l'arrière-pays méditerranéen.
Ce nouveau livre rassemble la plus récente série de photographies de Raymond Depardon : les 80 photographies noir et blanc qui le composent ont été réalisées après le premier confinement, au cours de l'été 2020, au sud du Massif Central, dans les départements de l'Aveyron, de la Lozère, du Gard et de l'Hérault.
L'ouvrage comprend un texte de Salomé Berlioux, présidente de l'association Chemins d'avenirs, première association qui accompagne d ans leur parcours des milliers de jeunes issus de zones rurales.