In 1857, Napoleon promulgates a law which obliges a massive planting of maritime pines in the “landes” of Gascony. Already existing in the wild, the pines are supposed to “sanitize” this then marshy land. It is actually a matter of keeping up with the industrial revolution. This decision will mark the end of the traditional agro-pastoral system and the disappearance of the Landes shepherd.

In 2018 I photographed Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains, a seaside resort in the “landes”, its tourists, its landscapes, its pines.
This series is both the story of a summer in the Landes, a nod to these shepherdesses and shepherds, on their stilts or in the pines and a little reminder that, even if a lot of people think that politics comes down to the opinions that we share, most of the time it changes lives and territories.