They are 33 farmers, from all over Seine-Maritime, to pose under the eye of Mathieu Deshayes, the Department’s photographer. He had a very specific objective, in making this series of portraits: “The idea was to highlight our producers. These people talk a lot about their products but here they were the stars.” Mathieu Deshayes took visible pleasure in meeting these farmers: “I highly recommend their gingerbread”, he says in front of the photo of beekeepers. And to add with a laugh: “I gave a lot of myself for this exhibition!”
Mathieu Deshayes wanted “get farmers out of their comfort zone and have fun”. A successful bet with Gaëtan Royer, from Les Poulets de Gaëtan, at Bosc Edeline. He poses, all smiles, with 3 chicks, one on his head, another on his shoulder and the last in his hands : “I brought chicks because I figured they would be easier to photograph than a live chicken. They were photogenic and posed well.”
Séverine Lesueur, who poses next to her husband, is also delighted to discover herself in a photo. With her husband, they are cattle breeders in Martainville-Epreville: “We had a lot of fun! It changed our daily lives and we are very happy to be able to promote our farm and our Maine Anjou breed, which we hold so dear.”
Pascal Prévost, market gardener in Quincampoix, came to the photo shoot with a specific idea: challenge the consumer. He is holding endives in a pot filled with hay in his hand to showcase traditional culture: “We are in the midst of an endive crisis, I don’t have this problem. Because the product is grown traditionally. It is unheated, it grows thanks to the earth and the straw. time but in the end we don’t have the same taste.”
We find all these farmers on Mon Panier 76, the internet platform set up two years ago by the Department to promote short circuits. She lists more than 160 Seino-Marine producerswith a list of available outlets. “It is a platform for connecting our producers, in all their diversity, and our consumers, whether they are the inhabitants of Seine-Maritime or the tourists who come to visit our beautiful department”explains, enthusiastic, the president of the departmental council Bertrand Bellanger.
The Mon Panier 76 exhibition is visible until April 1st on the gates of the Hôtel du Département, in Rouen.
– Mathieu Deshayes