Two photo exhibitions

as part of the Objectif Image Pays Catalan 2025 festival.

1 - Fayna Ladislas

2 - Christelle Baunez

Hours:

Saturday-Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday-Thursday-Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

For other opening times, please call: 0642416783

EXHIBITION COMMENTARY:

Peyrou Basketball Court by Fayna Ladislas!

In the heart of the city of Montpellier, located just below the historic Promenade du Peyrou, is a basketball court that I discovered in the summer of 2021. It was on the edge of the historic and festive city, in the Arceaux district (a ten-minute walk from one of the most iconic neighborhoods: Plan Cabane-Figuerolles), that my first photographic series, my first long-term project, was born. Having spent only a few days on this court in 2020, I have been returning there almost daily since March 2021. Regularly visiting this court as the warmer weather approaches and in the company of J., I end up getting to know everyone who frequents it. Within a few weeks, I join a group of people who have already known each other for one or more years. After more than a month on the court, the faces became familiar to me. It was that moment that the idea for this photographic project was born. Knowing the difficulty of photographing strangers in the street, I asked my closest friend if the people present on the court would agree to be photographed. Encouraged by this approach, I began one evening timidly taking a few shots. I returned the next day, the day after, and eventually almost every day. The players and the group of Guineans present on the court subsequently came to me to photograph them. I took on a completely different position, my relationships and my presence on the court changed. Peyrou basketball, as simple as the title given to this photographic series may seem, was as complex in its richness as this "city." Resulting from a long series of black and white photographs, the photographs resulting from this long-term project represent the teeming life that existed on this now-destroyed field. The people who gathered here—basketball players, soccer players, and regular spectators—became a family. All from different cultural and social backgrounds and of equally varied ages. Beyond the mutual respect that reigned (nationality, social class, people with reduced mobility, a minority of women), it is indeed a family that has endured, now relocated to the Alain Delylle sports complex. But the memories of this field, firmly anchored in the Arceaux district and facing the imposing Promenade du Peyrou, remain in the minds of Montpellier residents. The photographs I took aimed to show the daily reality on this court, the connections and reciprocities: the acts/ gestures of friendship, love, and joy, but also the thoughtful people, the fans... the basketball lovers, like those who came to seek comfort and social connection.