Matthieu Salvaing Photographs the Camargue's Raw Beauty

Photographer Matthieu Salvaing, who grew up in the Camargue region of southern France, has released a book titled "La Camargue" published by Voyages Gallimard x Saint-Lazare on June 18 at €80. The book captures the landscapes, traditions, and people of the Camargue, including festivals like the abrivado in Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze, salt marshes, Camargue horses, flamingos on the Étang de Vaccarès, and bull herds near Saint-Gilles. Salvaing, who left the region in his 20s to work with architect Oscar Niemeyer in Brazil before becoming a photographer, returned to document the area after being asked to do a book. He describes the Camargue as a hard, flat, windy place that was marshland and salt until 50 years ago, but also a place of intense beauty and tradition. His family bred bulls in Aigues-Mortes in Petite Camargue. The book features images of women in traditional dress, fishermen beside roubines (small canals), and the Sauvage cable ferry across the Petit-Rhône. Salvaing notes that animals—bulls, horses, and flamingos—are central to life there, and he recalls being hypnotized by flamingos as a child. He says the Camargue's madness and intensity are reflected in his work, and until a few years ago he would orient himself toward the Camargue when sleeping, like an animal getting its bearings.