Ahead of the Three Crowns Photography Festival, the Argia photography collective is launching three photography events in Hendaye this year.
Sophie Compain
Wanting to bring together perspectives, approaches, techniques and disciplines, the Argia Collective is launching « Crossed Perspectives » (Regards Croisés). Photography will be set in dialogue with history, geography, music, painting, design, fashion, cinema, documentary film and more.
Photography is a means of artistic expression, communication and memory. It is a powerful visual tool to bear witness, illustrate, denounce and support a message. It is also a living language, in constant interaction with every other form of expression.
Photography doesn't just show the world: it questions it, reveals it and passes it on.
A living memory, a universal language and an act of creation, it engages with every form of expression to give rise to new ways of seeing.
This event explores the role of images in shaping our musical imagination, while building bridges between heritage, contemporary creation and passing on knowledge. Our approach sets out to explore the deep connections between two forms of artistic expression: photography and music.
From the very beginning, music has always come with images: portraits of artists, photographs of music scenes, the iconography of record covers. These images help shape our musical imagination and are now an essential part of our cultural memory.
Music and photography will meet in several ways: first, a screening at Les Variétés cinema will open the Argia weekend, followed by a discussion with the audience. Then the exhibition by Simon Arcache, photographer and winner of the 2024 Voltaire Prize with his series « Going Up, Going Down, a history of the blues », will be accompanied by a musical performance by the artist.
Diego GIL, music historian, will give the talk « Sound and Vision » on the iconic photographs of album covers. His talk will be illustrated by an exhibition of vinyl sleeves.
Vocal and musical performances will also liven up the weekend. The full programme will be announced soon.
Photo credit @Simon ARCACHE
« Crossed Perspectives: Telling the World », part of the national celebrations of the Bicentenary of Photography 2026-2027, aims to lay the artistic, cultural and local foundations of the future festival, while offering the public a first strong, unifying experience.
Through this lens, the event will explore the photographer's role in the face of History, the ethics of the image, and how documentary photography serves the journalist's narrative or fits within a humanist approach. It will offer a variety of perspectives on the world: conflicts, social change, places, environmental issues and more. The exhibition is designed as an accessible and immersive journey, letting the public discover different photographic styles while keeping a strong editorial coherence.
The event will centre on the exceptional presence of renowned photojournalist and guest of honour Eric BOUVET, as well as one of the last representatives of the 20th-century French humanist movement, who will share their experience through public talks with screenings. Around these great names, four photographers, two women and two men, will bring their contemporary photojournalistic perspectives into dialogue.
This highlight will be a special moment of encounter between renowned professionals and the public, offering valuable insight into the current challenges of photojournalism and humanist photography.
Several highlights will punctuate the event: talks, photo exhibitions, mediation, masterclasses, portfolio reviews, discussions with the public and more.
The event will also give a central place to passing on knowledge and to photography education. Work will be carried out with schools in Hendaye to introduce pupils to the fundamentals of photojournalism: observe, tell, document. Pupils will be invited to produce their own images and stories, which will be presented as part of the Three Crowns Photography Festival programme in April 2027, in an off-site « Hors les murs » format. This approach aims to develop critical thinking, raise awareness of information issues and encourage committed artistic practice among young people.
Photo credit @Eric BOUVET
« Crossed Perspectives: The Diplomat » will present a previously unseen series of photographs taken with a darkroom process by the son of a French Consul in Tripoli in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A civil engineer with the Ottoman Railway Company, Paul BLANCHE documented the railway's route as well as the lives of French people in the Middle East at the time. His work is a historical record of his era, both in France and in the Middle East. Some of his images will be exhibited for the first time by the Argia Collective.
The photo exhibition "The unknown collection: an epic journey in the Middle East" will be held at the Gaztelu Market Hall. The photographs on display, lent by the descendants of the Consul of Tripoli Charles-Isidore BLANCHE, have been scanned and printed by Vincent HIRAULT of Labo 23.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a talk by Michel ISIDORE (aka Emile BOUVIER), a Middle East specialist and cartographer.
Photo credit: Paul BLANCHE
Programme being finalised. More information to come; stay tuned!
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