Théo Combes exhibits a “Black Mediterranean” at the Château d’Eau, in Toulouse
Photographer Théo Combes presents a remarkable series at the Château d’Eau gallery, “Noire Méditerranée”, on the migratory waves that have passed through it.
Necessity or constraint – political, religious, social – of exile, a fragile hope for a better life: Théo Combes’ eye perfectly captures the impact of these forced journeys. “I lived in Sète for a long time,” he explains, “and the news from this Mediterranean basin has often caught up with me. I was interested in the history of immigration and these successive waves – there were many Italians, Spaniards, in particular towards Argelès – which had strong repercussions on religion, culture, way of living of these people. “
Bright, proud and dignified faces
It is on the basis of the singular trajectory of Walter Benjamin that the native of Montpellier began to take an interest in and document himself on this poignant problem, as close as possible to men: “In September 1940, Walter Benjamin was in Port-Bou, he fled Paris and, stateless deprived of his German nationality, he seeks to join the United States, terrified at the idea of being handed over to the Nazi authorities. He spent several days wandering, sick, on the roads and without a visa, until killing himself in a hotel room. I saw a link between its history and that of migrants today, ”says Théo Combes.
The photographs exhibited in the second gallery of the Water Tower are still not weighed down by a blocked horizon or a dead-end future: the faces are often proud and dignified. The unusual is never very far away: “I love this photograph of young boys photographing the horizon: I am behind them, I also take pictures of them. They turn around, see me and we talk. “
Nice mise en abyme, beautiful moment suspended between two hopes: “It is always difficult to return to a country after having been passed out of it,” he observes. This is a problem faced by Italians, Arabs, Russians. Seeing these people looking for a possible exile, a few kilometers from the Rivesaltes camp, or in Aigues-Mortes, in the Camargue, where so many Italians were massacred in the summer of 1893, all this makes you realize that reality des frontières follows a chronology that dates back to Antiquity. “