Each photographer received a grant of €4,000 and accommodation in Sète from May to July 2024 to carry out their project. The two photographers have each produced a photographic project focusing on social, cultural, ecological and/or heritage issues, linking people and the marine world. The results were shared at an event at Château Laurens in Agde in September 2024.
The second edition of the Ronan Guillou Grants is supported by the city of Sète, Montpellier 2028 and Château Laurens, a building constructed in Agde from 1898 by collector Emmanuel Laurens. These grants are initiated and organized by the Eyes Wide Open association as part of the CIVIS MARITIMUS program and in partnership with the Itinérance Foto course (Sète). In tribute to French photographer Ronan Guillou, who passed away in 2022.
CÉCILE SMETANA “SCIROCCO”
© Cécile Smetana “Scirocco”
FRENCH-DANISH PHOTOGRAPHER, BORN IN 1986
Cécile Smetana was born in 1986 in a small fishing village of 2,000 inhabitants in northern Denmark. She studied art photography and photojournalism in Denmark. She then worked mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Mexico, the southern United States and France as a photojournalist and director of photography.
Sirocco reaches hurricane speed and causes disruption: broken-down vehicles, storms at sea and hot, humid weather invade southern Europe. When the wind reaches southern Europe, it is known as the “bloodrain”, because of the red sand it carries. The Scirocco project aims to document invisible forces – those that impact the Mediterranean coastline – from a personal perspective – the story of the artist’s paternal family who emigrated from Algeria to France, settling in Nice and then Sète – to that of nature: storms, the heat of the sea and the eponymous wind.
CHIARA INDELICATO “L’ARCHIPEL”
© Chiara Indelicato “L’archipel”
ITALIAN PHOTOGRAPHER BORN IN 1987
Chiara Indelicato, born in Italy in 1987, is a freelance artist who divides her time between Italy and France. After a first career in fashion and branding, she has chosen to devote herself entirely to photography in 2019. Her current work focuses mainly on experimenting with alternative silver-based photographic processes, in harmony with his practice and research into the documentation of isolated territories.
Occitanie, a land of poetry and legends around its Etang de Thau, inspires an artistic exploration of links with the sea, highlighting current ecological issues. Through this artistic residency, the artist aims to tell a story, both visual and textual, where the poetry of the imaginary meets important themes such as ecology and the future threatened by rising waters around the territories of Sète, the Etang de Thau and the Golf du Lion.