Returning from an afternoon on the beach with her grandson Milan, Dolorès Rodriguez made a detour to approach the photos installed in one of the main squares of Port-Camargue (Gard). The large format images show rescues at sea, makeshift boats, tired faces, frightened babies, buoys thrown into the water, but also smiles, hugs and an imposing liner whose red hull contrasts with the blue Big Blue oil. “It’s weird to show this here and now”, launches, ill at ease, the woman as she goes back to the pontoons.
In Europe’s leading marina – 5,000 rings – the “SOS Méditerranée, civic engagement” exhibition is a stone’s throw in the pond. The thirty photos of professional reporters on board the NGO’s ships rescuing migrants at sea are visible until August 15. They summarize the action of the association which, since 2016, on board theAquarius (until 2018) thenOcean Viking, helped more than 35,600 children, women and men.
“Summer cannot just be a carefree time as drama unfolds every day near here, off Tunisia and Libya. Jean-Pierre Lacan, member of SOS Méditerranée
On the one hand, images that show terrifying crossings on the most dangerous migratory axis in the world, according to the UN. On the other, a small paradise for yachtsmen. “In Port-Camargue, people come to watch the boats, eat at the restaurant, go on educational excursions at sea, stroll… and why not see exhibitions”, assumes Jean-Romain Brunet, new director of the captaincy, who would like “raising awareness”. Located just opposite its big sister, La Grande-Motte, the Grau-du-Roi marina, where hundreds of masts rise as far as the eye can see, lives to the rhythm of the sea. “It’s our DNA. My idea is to question: what is the solidarity of seafarers? »
“Recall the marine spirit”
On the SOS Méditerranée side, this shock operation is a first. The traveling exhibition has already been shown twenty times to the public, but only in closed places, most often schools. This time, the images are revealed in the open air and in the eyes of the greatest number. “Summer can’t just be a carefree time as drama unfolds every day near here, off Tunisia and Libya,” supports Jean-Pierre Lacan, linchpin of the association.
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