War An Hent

The Port Museum’s new exhibition puts internationally renowned photographer Stéphane Lavoué in the spotlight.

The series “L’équipage” (The Crew) and “Les mois noirs” (The Dark Months), portraits and landscapes from the Bigouden area, are on display, accompanied by audio and video testimonies to create a true museographical and artistic installation. In autumn, the “Gant.(t)” series will be added to the exhibition. This series is the fruit of a four-week residence in Douarnenez, spent photographing workers met in the town’s workshops, construction sites and factories.

Stéphane Lavoué was educated at the Ecole Supérieure du Bois in Nantes (a higher education institution specialising in wood sciences and technologies). He turned his hand to photography after seeing an exhibition by Sebastiao Salgado in Brazil. He then made a career for himself in photography, working for the French and international press from 2001. In 2015, he began work on a more personal project, with “The North ok Kingdom”, a philosophical tale about the state of Vermont.

He joined the team of La France Vue d’Ici, in partnership with Médiapart, chronicling the life of the fishing port of Le Guilvinec for a year.

He has become renowned for his portraits of famous people.

Is there such a thing as a “family of man”1?

Is this the question addressed in Stéphane Lavoué’s photographs?

Alone, each creates an intimate landscape out of the contrast between light and dark, and through a captivating gaze that draws you in, inspiring a state of silent meditation.

Together in a series, these images tell a story. They paint a poetic, epic fresco filled with tenderness and generosity. The score for a tune that gets stuck in your head, played out in human encounters, to the rhythm of vast, dramatic, Turner-esque outdoor scenes.

Kelig-Yann Cotto, Curator at the Port Museum

1 The Family of Man: an iconic exhibition held at New York’s MoMA in 1955, then presented in Paris under the title “La grande famille des hommes” in 1956