Category Archives: People

People

Citron à Paillettes: All of Us Together

Story by Rae Daniels-Henderson
Photos by Elizabeth Coleman

Amid the rows of garmets and accessories, you’ll find a cotton-stuffed Camargue. Creatively made by designer Christine Hector, these plush companions represent many of the wild-life beloved in the regional natural park.

From the street, Citron à Paillettes blends into the facades of the Arles downtown. But once you enter the petite boutique you’re teleported into a world of color and creativity, awe and wonder. Stuffed pink flamingos fill a shelf. Bookmarks, handbags, book jackets and headbands of every color cover one wall and a photo exhibit covers another. It’s easy to tell at a glance that this is a store like no other.  

In fact, Citron à Paillettes stands out among boutiques because of its unusual business model: the people working there are also the designers and creators of the goods sold within.

Citron à Paillettes is run by a collective of nine fashion designers from different parts of the South of France who bring their own diverse backgrounds to their work. They create works of wonder, from the one-of-a-kind flamingoes, handcrafted jewelry made by a mother-daughter duo, handbags and book covers made exclusively from Japanese fabric, to feminine floral yet comfortable pieces made by the founder herself, Audrey Sigovic-Garcia. 

Patricia Romance loves accessories. In an effort to limit waste of her materials, Romance has found creative ways to use every piece of fabric. She designs a diverse line of accessories and personal goods from handbags, scarves and hats to book marks, book covers and coin purses.

“I can be inside on a rainy day, have random objects and string and I will create a necklace,” says Sigovic-Garcia. Her eyes light up as she smiles and explains that she likes creating with her hands. She presses them together palm side up and motions with them to demonstrate.

Sigovic-Garcia has been creating for as long as she can remember. She is a fashion designer, but has also worked as a project designer. Sigovic-Garcia’s clothing line is strategically named, “La Rose à Pois,” (the Polka Dot Rose). Her apparel embodies that spirit: a bold and vibrant mixing of floral and dotted or striped patterns with very feminine cuts and romantic flowy sleeves. 

The store is home to a rainbow of colors creating a bright and welcoming environment for anyone looking to bring a bold twist into their wardrobe.

Sigovic-Garcia’s ready-to-wear line inspired by post-war dress, Victorian Silhouettes and Asian perfumes is crafted from her home. She needed to find a way to reach customers to sell her designs, so she assembled a collective of talented fashion designers she bonded with over the years to have a center where eight others can share and sell their creations with the Arlesian community in a “creators space” becoming Citron à Paillettes, which in English means “Glitter Lemon.” The original space was only a few streets down but was damaged during the flood in 2003. The collective has been in the current location for 20 years now. 

During my first visit to Citron à Paillettes, I had the pleasure of meeting Eric Deveaux. I stopped and was admiring a beautiful blue, white and black floral top when he explained to me that he made it himself, “I created all of these.” He motioned to his specific section of the store displaying his other colorful dresses, skirts, and blouses. Deveaux, owner of  Sur les Traces d’un Nomade, started sewing 25 years ago “out of frustration because his arms were too long,” and has been making beautiful clothes ever since.

The flamingoes lining the walls find new homes around the world. Customers send photos of their flamingo to designer Christine Hector for her to add to a map with push pins tracking where in the world her flamingoes have travelled.

All of the designers create their pieces then bring them to the boutique to sell, they all take shifts at the store. With each visit I got to meet someone new, like Patricia Romance. 

Romance originally attended fashion school for apparel making, but found more joy in making accessories, “I love accessories and was a fan at the beginning, then I started making my own and just stayed there.” With Japanese floral fabrics, Romance makes elegant and timeless things like purses, book covers, and headbands without any trend in mind. Her brand is made from what inspires her. When Romance has no need for excess fabric she gives it to Idée du Jour’s creator Christine Hector. 

The 9 designers of Citron à Paillettes dedicate themselves to their craft creating intricate and delicate treasures for anyone.

Hector has known Sigovic-Garcia for 17 years. Before coming back to Arles she worked as a stylist in Paris. Hector goes back to Paris to teach sewing classes at three schools; ESMOD, CREAPOLE, and MODE ESTAH.  When she is not teaching, she creates her one-of-a kind decorative flamingos.

She documents each one’s destination by placing a push pin on a map at home. Hector utilizes anything that she finds to bring these majestic Camargue natives to life. When I asked about the different types of materials she used, her face lit up. She said that she found an abandoned vacuum cleaner in her neighborhood and made that into a flamingo and it now resides in her home. 

 The way that this collective has maintained their business for so long is by being “imaginative” enough and collaborating to create new moods for the store throughout the seasons. They were fortunate enough to not be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic or rent spikes, unlike many small stores worldwide.

The story has built a loyal clientele. “I create the clothes so that women feel beautiful and comfortable within themselves,” Sigovic-Garcia said.

Inspired by Japanese textiles, many of the designers in Citron à Paillettes share their fabrics to remain eco-conscious and limit waste. This collaboration also creates a beautifully curated and cohesive style within the store.
People

Left Behind: Education Barriers in Arles

Story by Morgen Lily Neuhauser

When the European Commission sanctioned France last year for inadequate efforts to make education and daily life accessible for those with disabilities, many families were not surprised. For years, parents of children with disabilities have complained about the lack of educational facilities and resources.

Serge Guerrini, a father of a boy with a developmental disability, said that things were so bad in France many families took advantage of an agreement between Belgium and France that allowed them to immigrate to Belgium because it has more services for people with disabilities. The future of the agreement is unclear. Due to overuse, Belgium has begun letting fewer families immigrate there, Guerrini said, leaving many to navigate the French special education system. 

Guerrini said that the problems in France primarily arise due to a lack of political will to make change and a lack of funding. 

“On the political level, at the national level, there are always promises,” Guerrini said. “But, in fact, the funds are not released and nothing changes. So there are no new spots created to this day.” 

Nineteen years after the passage of landmark legislation on equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities in France, the country is in the midst of significant change in special education. The 2005 law ensures that every child with a disability has the right to be educated in a mainstream environment at their local school. The legislation was bolstered by a 2013 law introducing the concept of inclusive schools into the education code. 

Since the passage of these laws, support services have increased. According to the publication French Republic, the percentage of students with disabilities who benefited from human support in their school rose from 26% to 47% between 2006 and 2011. 

Nowadays, more and more families are asking for their children to attend mainstream schools because there are limited spots available in specialized institutions. According to the Ministry of National Education and Youth, 460,000 students with disabilities are enrolled in mainstream schools in France, which is four times more than 15 years ago. Another 11,000 children with disabilities are waiting for a place in a medical-educational institution that would best suit their needs. 

The increased number of special education students puts a lot of stress on the school system, said Sophie Poulain, a volunteer at Dyspraxia France Dys 13. The rigorous school system leaves many teachers unsure of how to handle students with special needs. 

“The school system has a certain number of boxes that have to be ticked,” Poulain said. “So a child has to be able to do such and such. And if that child simply cannot reach those goals, then the teacher finds that they just don’t know what to do.”

Dyspraxia France Dys helps form bonds among families who have children diagnosed with dyspraxia and dyslexia, said Poulain, whose daughter has dyspraxia and other conditions. The association takes its name from dyspraxia, a developmental coordination disorder, and dys, the Latin root for illness or difficulty. 

“As a parent, when we discover that our child has some form of disability or developmental difficulty, we feel very alone,” said Poulain, whose daughter is now 21. “And so it is very important to have those connections and to feel less alone.” 

Poulain also runs a parent cafe in Pont De Crau, outside of Arles, for people whose families have someone with dyslexia, dyspraxia or related conditions. Every few months, support groups meet to provide comfort and community to caregivers and other loved ones, Poulain said.

Poulain knows how lonely being a parent of a child with a disability can be, so she wants to ease that stress for others. 

“What we are doing, creating connections with other parents, that sort of thing just didn’t exist at all when my daughter was young,” Poulain said.

Poulain noticed that her daughter was not following a neurotypical path of development. By the time she was 4, her daughter still wasn’t speaking and Poulain was unsure if she truly understood what was being said to her. 

Eventually, her daughter was diagnosed with dyspraxia, severe dyslexia, ADHD and a developmental coordination disorder. As her daughter grew older, Poulain took on most of the responsibilities of caring for her. Medical appointments, filling out documents and advocating for her daughter took up so much time that Poulain had to drop down to part-time at work.  

Dyspraxia France Dys now helps by connecting families with the appropriate support services. In France there are two different tracks of special education classes within mainstream schools. Students are either placed in Sections d’enseignement général et professionnel adapté (SEGPA) or Unités localisées pour l’inclusion scolaire (Ulis) classes. SEGPA is a year-round, full-time special education program that prioritizes getting students ready for the workforce. Ulis aids students who are struggling in specific subjects. Students can be taken out for individual classes, but attend mainstream classes the rest of the time. 

“The two services are very good, but you do have to be aware that if you go into the SEGPA class, you’re gonna get more limited in terms of choice,” Poulain said. 

Poulain routinely goes to school meetings with families, helps them fill out the documents that are necessary to get their disability recognized, and connects them with the appropriate doctors. 

Other families have similar stories of an overwhelming and overly complicated system. Guerrini and his family have been navigating the special education system since their son, Silvio, was 5. Silvio was diagnosed with regression in communication with an autistic history and started receiving services in Arles around 2008. Silvio started at the public school of Gageron with an auxiliaire de vie sociale, an aide who would attend classes with him for about two or three half-days per week. Guerrini said that getting assigned an aide in Arles is very difficult and the family was able to arrange one through a local politician they knew. 

Eventually, Silvio was enrolled in “L’Oranger,” a facility in The Arles Hospital. He attended about three half-days per week. Silvio’s time at “L’Oranger” was spent with a supportive child psychologist in an environment that “welcomed children with difficulties and tried to motivate them,” Guerrini said. 

Guerrini notes that the special education system in France involves national, regional and local agencies, and poor communication among the entities makes it difficult for families to know their path. The main problems, according to Guerrini, are the need for more spots and budget allocated for needed services.

“It’s the obstacle course, so as we say, you have to hold on and not let go, keep going, and believe,”  Guerrini said. 

Guerrini advises parents in similar situations to be patient, have courage and believe in the process.

In addition to the poor coordination between government entities, parents complain about the lack of training for educators. Many teachers and aides are not equipped to handle these students as they don’t get adequate training, Poulain said. 

“If you’ve got a teacher for your child who really wants to do the best they can for them, then it can go well,” Poulain said. “But, of course, if the type of disability of the child is such that it’s very, very complicated for them to be in a group with other children, then they need more help.” 

Poulain hopes that Dyspraxia France Dys can be part of the solution one day, helping to train educators in the community. 

“Dyspraxia France Dys needs to be able to go into schools and explain to teachers the tools that can be used to help children with learning disabilities,” Poulain said. “Those tools are going to help all the children in the class.” 

Dr. Christian Pic specializes in autism and neurodevelopmental disorders. In his practice, he routinely communicates with schools and daycare centers, visiting various locations and showing staff how they could adjust the space to best suit the needs of students with autism. Pic said that accessibility is a political issue, and as a society, France must work to integrate accessibility into daily life. 

“It’s not the disabled child who should adapt to us,” he said, “but us who should adapt to them.”

Anna Cauvin and Monica Ronco served as interpreters for this story.

People

‘Little by Little,’ Women Transcend Cultural Differences

Photos by Ania Johnston
Interviews by Judas Ãtman and Ania Johnston
Video editing by Surya Vaidy

Petit à Petit (Little by Little), a women’s collective implements civic projects throughout Arles to create a more collective community. Both staff and volunteers, led by Anne Drilleau, work out of Dans La Cuisine, a communal kitchen in the heart of the Grifeuille, a neighborhood on the Western outskirts of Arles.

Jamila Laboub, a seasoned chef, and Olga Ivanova, an apprentice work in the kitchen weekly. Over the past 6 months, the pair have grown to become “unlikely” friends. Though they come from disparate parts of the world, their kinship is a symbol of the ways that community can come together no matter their differences.

Caption: Jamila Laboub (left) and Olga Ivanova sit outside the community kitchen, Dans La Cuisine.

Below you will find a combination of media captured by the creative team on this piece: a “moving portrait” of each woman that includes a sound byte from their interview, a link to a recording of the interview conducted by Ania and Judas in the original language(s) (French, English, and some Ukrainian) as well as a full-text translation of the interview.

We have tried capture how each woman would sound in English by favoring direct translation over “fixed” translation;, meaning the syntax and grammar have been discarded for a more authentic representation of each woman’s voice.

Jamila Laboub

Enregistrement audio complet de l’entretien en français

JUDAS WILEY: What is your first and last name?

JAMILA LABOUB: Hello. So, my name is Jamila Laboub. 

JW: Where do you come from?

JL: I come… I come from Morocco. Since I was six years old, I am in France. I’ve had four children and in this education I saw this training as the center of my social neighborhood, which is to do a CAP (certificate) in cuisine for nine months and I have wanted to try that adventure. 

I got my CAP cuisine and I worked in town at a restaurant, the Arlatan, and I have worked for four months, but It was much more intense for me. So that’s it. I wanted to look for something else in the restaurant business, but that something else is in a collective or small restaurant.

I created a group to do cooking workshops in social centers or in schools or retirement homes. And next, in the Cuisine Griffeuille, they proposed other cooking workshops and I did one, two, then three and there you go, for that I found myself again here doing cooking workshops. It’s been almost two years that I’ve been here with the Cuisine Griffeuille and with the collective Petit à Petit. One and a half years now and it’s worked out very well.

Each Tuesday, Laboub hosts a cooking workshop for children.

ANIA JOHNSTON (to JW): What does cooking mean to her? 

JW (to JL): What is your reason for cooking?

JL: Cooking… What’s — what has changed in my life, or is it — ?

JW: Why cook? It’s a bit existential. 

JL: Me, when I was little, I cooked. I cooked bread, I did the cooking for my brothers and sisters when Mom, my mother, she didn’t want it to happen or she didn’t want it. It was a duty for me. Duty. I didn’t like it but I did it, I was obliged. 

Laboub removes freshly baked cakes from a tin.

Later, I was married and I saw through my children that it pleased them to taste a cake or a dish or that it pleased people. This pleased me. So, I have loved cooking in relationship with people, like you, who love mint tea; I made you mint tea, “Oh it’s so nice, thank you!” I am happy to have created pleasure with cooking. And I make family meals, and … they love it, they like this. And we try to make the world happy but now I like cooking and I feel before when … people … say there’s a therapy in cooking … that makes me a good cook.

Olga Ivanova

Enregistrement audio complet de l’entretien en français

OLGA IVANOVA: What is your first name? I’m Olga Ivanova. It’s my first and last name.

JW: And where are you from?

OA: I’m from Ukraine, from Zaporizhzhia. It’s town, where is now war… Because the war started in my country.

JW: And why are you working here at Petit à Petit?

OA: Because the war start in my – in my country. And I take my children and I go… to Europe. And … I looking for a country… who can give me house .

I’m… looking for a country who can safeguard my family. A woman here, in Tarascon, she offered me her house for my family – my girls. And I arrived directly here and I live in Tarascon, not with her, but we stay friends. We are like a French family. 

JW: Why did she give you a home?

OA: Her name is Alexandra De Chimay. Her family is Romanian – who is also affected by the war when she was very little. And when the Ukrainian war started, she decided to help a family because she lived alone, she is not married, and she has no children – and she is healthy and wants to help someone. And when we sent her our photo she, right away, she said we live together for 15 months and after the City of Tarascon will give us apartments.

Ivanova’s hands fold varenyky dough.

ANIA JOHNSTON: And what was the moment that you felt that you needed to leave?

OA: At once. It was 5 o’clock morning, the 24th of February. And there we were sleeping; it was a very nice time. And but the son of my husband tells me – he says, “The war is starting.” And the war is starting not far from the Zaporizhzhia. So we came to Kharkiv, we came to the Zaporizhzhia region, because Donet’sk it’s 300 km it was close really, to Zaporizhzhia, so it was dangerous to go back to Zaporizhzhia. And my husband, of course, we’re waiting for the war to be finished soon. But my husband said you should go because we didn’t know. You should go, you should rest down there…

JW: He’s still there, your husband?

OA: Yes. He is there. My parents are there. But, after one year, the war was not finished and we decided to find a place for to live. So we want to stay here.

Ivanova insists that she cannot be sad or cry anymore– she needs to be strong for her two daughters so that they can thrive in France even after everything they endured to get to get here.

JW: How did you find Anne [Drilleau]? How did you, like, start working at Petit à Petit?

OA: I had never – I haven’t ever been in France. I didn’t imagine that my life is here. I was working in a restaurant all my life. I work at a restaurant and now, I really love cuisine and my problem in France – it’s the vocabulary in French. Because the French language is complicated and I have lost so much time also because the war was coming quickly. I am starting to learn French much later. I think after a year. 

One year I start to learn French, but for work, I was proposed this by – Graines d’Étoiles et Des Femmes proposed this. It’s called the kitchen but first before they propose me training at Petit à Petit to be a cook, to learn vocabulary, to learn many French things – because – I think French cuisine is the best in the world, it’s the foundation for much cuisine. 

In the future I want to work with the head chef on a team, be a nice cook, maybe not chef, maybe have time to happily mix cuisines because, I see [not everywhere] but each time I arrive to a restaurant, I see that the meat is not well done.

I want to do French cuisine with Ukrainian style or maybe one day to do Ukrainian cuisine.

Ivanova pounds out the varenyky dough with a rolling pin.

AJ: OK. Last question: what does cooking mean to you? 

OA: It’s my life, because at 4 to 5 years old we are learning to cook and because when we started cooking , we learn borscht at school – we learn how to prepare borscht in elementary school. We have lessons, cooking lessons. Also I work in a restaurant all my life. I love the scene, I love taste, I do not eat much but I love – I love when food is good quality and prepared well. 

AJ: OK. Thank you very much!

Ivanova uses a jar to cut each circular dumpling casing from the flattened dough.
People, Postcards

Finding Home in a Foreign Land

By Rae Daniels-Henderson

Coming to France for the first time, I felt anxiety about how my four-week experience was going to play out. My terrible French speaking skills and American caricatures of the French people as stuck-up and impatient weighed very heavily on my chest.

I am the first in my family to travel abroad, let alone study abroad for a month. My fear of the unknown and my family’s fear of me traveling for so long added stress I didn’t realize I had until I arrived in Arles. 

But I have sighed my biggest ever mental sigh of relief because I have actually found a sense of home in Arles. 

Our first day in Arles, when my classmate, Judas, and I got lunch, I fumbled my words asking for a bottle of water. I soon became extremely embarrassed but was immediately put at ease when the server gave me an impromptu French lesson, pointing and translating with the warmest smile almost as if she was doing this to include me so I could better understand the culture.

That felt like my official welcome into this small community that has had iconic moments of history, including long visits from famous artists Paul Gaugin, Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh, and that was even a provincial capital of ancient Rome. 

A few days after that experience, the group was asked by Katie Thornton, the director at our language school, if we noticed any differences between our families at home and our host families. I realized I genuinely could not think of anything.

Dinners with my host family have been most recently on the patio during warm evenings with a musky yet sweet-scented incense burning to repel mosquitoes. That resembles my life back home with aromatic incense filling my dining and living room with an added sense of warmth. Both at home and in Arles everyone enjoys a meal, loud laughter, reminiscing, sharing stories and then breaking out into dance or the occasional funny-face exchange among siblings. 

I had already felt a sense of familiarity with my host mother, Françoise Meyer-Gardeur. But when she sat me and my other housemates from the program down one day and asked if we were comfortable with her, I realized she reminded me of my mother. The way that they both instill the courage in you to speak up to them about any concern, the showing of mutual respect to their children, and the genuine love, admiration and warmth that radiates from them are like the sun illuminating and bringing life to everything it touches.

My supportive Arlesian home on rue Jean Granaud has become my base to recharge and has given me confidence to explore more every day.

Even though I have been here for two weeks I now stop and occasionally have friendly conversations with people of this small community. Just as back home, I speak to people I see every day about their husbands, approaching traveling plans or even updates on pets. I have also experienced pleasant nods followed by a small smile and even little “Bonjours” if I accidentally lock eyes with someone while passing by on the street.

Apparently, I am getting a special welcome, because when I recount these interactions to my hosts, I get surprised and puzzled reactions. 

When my time comes to leave, I will miss this place immensely. I am grateful for the beaming Arlesian sun melting away my hesitation and fears, while I embrace it and all of its light and guidance through these cobblestone streets.

People

A haven for entrepreneurs

Story and photos by Ella Ehlers

Long known for its cultural and historical significance, Arles is now developing a reputation as a hub for entrepreneurship. The city aids new businesses financially and supports them with resources and networking opportunities. 

Using local products is an important value for many entrepreneurs here, especially for those in the food and beverage industry, who can draw from the fields of rice, lavender, durum wheat and herbs that grow in the region.

Arles holds an Entrepreneurs Day each year where new and aspiring business owners can learn everything they need to know to start and sustain their companies. The annual event begins with practical workshops on real estate, financing, and legal and tax issues.  Next comes a pitch session where entrepreneurs can pose their idea to a jury of professionals and get feedback. In the afternoon, participants meet in small groups to further develop their ideas and meet potential partners. 

This special day in Arles brings entrepreneurs together and lets them fully implement their business plans. 

Initiative Pays d’Arles, a member of the National Initiative France network, is another source of support for entrepreneurs in Arles. Established in 1998, this initiative provides technical and financial support to entrepreneurs in the region. In 2021, Initiative Pays d’Arles supported 272 companies and gave out 1.6 million euros in no-interest loans. 

Magdalena Lataillade, the economic development officer at the Chamber of Trades and Crafts of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, said, “Arles is home to 150 businesses, and 70% of them are micro-businesses,” which are companies that have only one employee, the entrepreneur. 

Magdalena Lataillade, the economic development officer at the Chamber of Trades and Crafts of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, helps businesses in Arles.

Lataillade explained that Arles is a city where many people want to start their own businesses, but there is only room for so many. Lataillade’s office supports new businesses by providing them with a cheaper space to rent and helps them network with other artisans in the area. 

The Chamber of Trades and Crafts has three spaces in Arles offered to entrepreneurs at low rents to help them get started. Entrepreneurs struggle with money in the first year, so these spaces are helpful for these new businesses.   

“It depends on how they do, but often, in the first year, many businesses make less than €10,000 (about $11,000 at the current exchange rate),” she said. “People do this because of a passion, not because of the money.”

Because Arles is surrounded by orchards, rice fields and other agricultural lands, many entrepreneurs incorporate local ingredients into their products. Natural resources like salt and crops such as rice, flowers, spices and herbs can be turned into food, beverages,  sachets and other products.

Many images come to mind when imagining an entrepreneur, but they all have one thing in common: hard work. Thomas Bigourdan, the creator and owner of Bigourdan, a gin distillery in the city center of Arles, proved that persistence and hard work are essential in his business. 

“You cannot give up after one challenge,” said Bigourdan, who started the distillery in 2018.

Florent de Oliveria, the founder of the Brasserie Arlesienne Artisanale Craft Beer, better known as BAA Beer, also saw Arles as a good place to start a beverage company.

 During an interview, Oliveria explained that “this company is very time-consuming which has led to a divorce and less time with my kids.” This is just one example of how devoted the entrepreneurs in Arles are to their companies. Oliveria is very hardworking but also has a contagious passion for his work. 

“Lots of businesses are created every year,” Lataillade said. “But only the strong ones make it.”

Meet two entrepreneurs from the Arles region:

Thomas Bigourdan, founder of Bigourdan Distillerie de Camargue

Florent de Oliveria, founder of the Brasserie Arlesienne Artisanale Craft Beer

People

A gin that tastes of the Camargue

By Sophie Wyckoff

After 14 years working in marketing and communications for L’Occitane en Provence in London, Thomas Bigourdan was ready for a change. A visit to a gin distillery gave him an idea.

“It was while I was visiting a distillery in the East of London that I started imagining my distillery,” he said.

In 2018, he founded Bigourdan Distillerie de Camargue, a gin distillery in Arles, that uses local products like immortelle (eternal flower), lavender, sage and thyme from the region to create a unique flavor. The gin is made from 13 ingredients, most of them grown in the Camargue.

“I wanted to make a ‘real’ London Dry, fairly classic and recognizable, then give it a sharp, almost brutal Camargue temperament,” he said in an interview posted on the company’s website. “I started from the sensations and impressions that can be experienced in the Camargue – the gasp, the salt crunching underfoot, the sand burned by the sun – to translate them into taste.”

Bigourdan said immortelle, tiny yellow flowers picked from the Camargue, give a warm and dry finish to the gin. Immortelle is also an antimicrobial compound that promotes skin cell regeneration and is used as an essential oil.

Customers browse in the Bigourdan shop in Arles. Photo by Sophie Wyckoff.

Currently, two flavors of gin are available to purchase, the original and the limited edition summer flavor, which includes essence of citrus. The limited edition is distilled in two batches which contain 500 liters, so when the product is gone, it’s gone. The original flavor and limited edition summer flavor come in a 50-centiliter bottle. The original sells for 41 euros, and the summer flavor for 43 euros.

On top of gin, Bigourdan also produces and sells three ready-to-serve cocktails. Negroni Matador uses the Immortelle plant for a maple syrup taste, Soho Negroni is a sweet orange taste, and the N°1 Negroni has a lemon and orange zest that grows at the foot of the distillery. The three bottles are packaged together for a selling price of 52 euros. 

Photo by Sophie Wyckoff.

Bigourdan initially faced many challenges as a solo entrepreneur. He states how stressful his job was and how “you do everything on your own and can only count on yourself.”

People

Ukrainian refugees resettle in Arles

Story and photos by Gabriela Calvillo Alvarez

As Iryna K. and her 10-year-old son Alex fled the war in Ukraine, migrating from Germany to Ireland to Arles, he would draw pictures showing how he would find a way to go home. 

“First, he denied the war,” said Iryna, 40, who asked that her last name not be published. “He said the war didn’t exist. He told me he wanted to return. Every evening, he would draw me a map of how he would escape. ‘Mom, I will go by this frontier, that frontier,’ and so on.” 

The mother and son left Ukraine in May 2022, not long after the war began. They had lived all her life in Kyiv, where the bombardment was intense from the beginning.

Russian leaders, she said, “hoped that in three days Kyiv would be occupied, that they would impose their government, and that then the war would be finished. Anyway, you see that it still continues.”

Iryna is part of a loose network of women and children who are trying to find their footing in Arles. Many of them have families back home in Ukraine and are waiting to return, while others have decided to stay. 

“I know that last year, we had many people come in, maybe 150,” said Iryna, whose family remains in Ukraine. “But now, a lot of them have left so it’s hard to have an exact number.”

Iryna K. stands in the garden of her home in Arles.

As of July 2023, nearly 6 million refugees from Ukraine are recorded to be in Europe, according to the UN Refugee Agency. France does not have an official database for this information but a report from the U.S. Department of State Humanitarian Information Unit states that as of Jan. 2023, 119,000 Ukrainian refugees are currently in France. 

Arles was one of the cities that provided a haven for Ukrainian refugees. Initially, no official resources were available and it was just a people-helping-people effort. Because she was one of the few who could speak both Ukrainian and French, Iryna served as a bridge for those coming to Arles. While she had secure housing with a local family, she helped connect other women to Arlesians willing to host refugees. 

However, one of the challenges these women face when they arrive here is a lack of work opportunities. Since the city is dependent on tourism, especially during the summer months, it’s harder to have a stable income during the off seasons, such as winter and fall. 

“Arles doesn’t give you many possibilities to realize your professional potential,” Iryna said. “You can go work at a hotel or a restaurant, but you don’t have a lot of choices.”

Iryna was a unique case. Upon her arrival in Arles, she began an association called Ukraine en Provence to help provide resources to other Ukrainian women who have resettled in the region. 

“I did everything because I understood that if I was home alone, with all my thoughts, it would be unsupportable,” Iryna said. “It’s too heavy. It was very difficult to manage my own feelings and in addition, I had to manage [my son’s] feelings, too.”

Iryna K. and her son, Alex, have made a home in Arles even as they miss their family in Ukraine.

Last year, she offered a Ukrainian course, in partnership with the Arles à la carte language school, to teach the history and language of the country to locals interested in learning more about the Ukrainian community.

“For French people, it’s very difficult to understand some particularities of Ukraine,” she said. 

“So I decided to write a little book that’s like Ukrainian in 30 days.”

Iryna studied languages at a university in Ukraine and speaks English and Italian, as well as French and Ukrainian. These skills helped her communicate and find work.

For most Ukrainian refugees, however, language has been another obstacle. Halyna Mamchur, 35, didn’t know any French when she and her daughter, Maria, arrived in Arles over a year ago. She came here at the suggestion of a French friend she knew from art school in Ukraine.

“It’s been a very difficult and beautiful time for me, this one year,” she said. “I met very happy people and I think I try to be happy, too.”

Four months after she arrived, she decided to pick up drawing once more as a way to process her feelings about leaving her country. Her paintings often contain images of her family and faces combined with bird features, to symbolize freedom and strength.

“For me, it’s a normal artist’s life,” said Mamchur. “It’s my emotions and it’s my experience with people, with my friends, with my parents.”

Mamchur’s friend, Nadja Bailly, 37, studied art in Ukraine for a year with Halyna and they’ve been friends ever since. Bailly has been involved in helping the Ukrainian community since the very beginning of the war. She was one of the few who could translate for those coming into town for safety. 

“At the beginning, nobody knew what Ukraine was. Nobody knew its history or the language. But now they do. Everyone knows,” Bailly said. 

While some people like Iryna are settling in Arles, others have decided to go back to Ukraine. Mamchur is one of those women. She left last month. 

“Maybe when the war is finished, I’ll come back together with my family,” Mamchur said. “Right now, I understand that I only want to live in my country. Maria and I speak Ukrainian, we sing Ukrainian, and I love it.” 

People

Inspiring the next generation of visual journalists

Story and photos by Sam Guzman

As a young child growing up in an orphanage after his parents were killed in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Jean Bizimana had little experience with photography, either behind or in front of a camera. When he was 8 years old, he learned how to take pictures with Through The Eyes of Children, a program that helps unsafe or vulnerable kids learn photography and videography.

“The objective of the project was not to turn us into photographers but it was to give us a way of forgetting our past experiences of the genocide, war and conflicts that we had been through,” Bizimana said.

Inspired by his experiences of telling stories with a camera, Bizimana became a photojournalist. (You can view his work here: https://www.biziphotos.com/about)

Now, at the age of 32, Bizimana is a part of a mentorship program sponsored by VII Academy that was created to help promising young photographers from the Majority World, who may not have access to formal photography education, hone their skills. The program, which started with a site in Sarajevo, opened a new location in Arles in February. 

Sharafat Ali talks with Gary Knight, CEO of VII Academy and Foundation at the program’s final reception.

Gary Knight, co-founder of VII Academy, says one of his goals for the program is “to ensure that very well trained, ethically based, young photojournalists are out there in the world, calling truth to power, holding the political classes and the corporate classes to account on behalf of the public.”

As a photojournalist, Knight traveled the world from 1988 to 2017, shooting conflict zones in Cambodia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

In 2001, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, the war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq, Knight and other photojournalists joined together to create the VII Photo Agency. Later, as the digital revolution changed the revenue models for media, they formed the VII Foundation as a way to support photojournalism and make it sustainable.

Knight brought the academy to Arles because, as the host of the annual Rencontres d’Arles photography festival and the home of France’s most prominent photography school, it already had a dialogue around photography.

“I think what we can do here is bring a little more diversity to the conversation,” Knight said.

VII Academy, the educational wing of the VII Foundation, provides tuition-free training in visual journalism. In the mentorship program, mentees undergo training for five weeks, working on such concrete skills as sequencing photos, editing photos, working with curators and writing pitches for stories. Workshops are taught by seasoned veteran photographers from around the world who understand the demands and challenges of shooting in marginalized communities.

Bizimana said in Rwanda, most people don’t understand the power of photography to tell important stories. 

“When you grow up in a country where no one understands photography, it’s kind of challenging,” Bizimana said. “Everything we learned from YouTube. We don’t have photography schools, we don’t have photography libraries.”

The Through Eyes of Children program, however, gave him the opportunity to learn. The organization lent him a camera, and he learned basic techniques. This was the spark that he needed to want to become a photographer. 

As he developed his photography skills, he sold his photographs to help pay for his studies, as well as raise funds for some of the children from the orphanage. Since there are no photography schools in Rwanda, however, he studied computer science at university. 

Bizimana attended photography workshops to deepen his skills. In 2015 he joined Gary Knight’s Canon Masterclass, a program on how to use professional cameras to make stories. That’s when he started his career. He joined his local news group, IGIHE, in Rwanda. He quit after he realized their style didn’t give him the creative freedom he craved.

Bizimana was a part of the first cohort of mentees to study at the new location in Arles, which is based in a renovated salthouse near the banks of the Rhone River. His cohort included young photographers from Nepal, India, Kashmir, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as two from the United States.

According to Knight, the mentees have developed “very strong friendships, they have a global community.”

Ali, 30, is another mentee in the program. He was born in Kashmir, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan. He started doing photography in 2013, shooting the impressive landscapes around him. But he eventually stopped.

“It might be a paradise for outsiders, but to us, it’s a hell,” said Ali, who has been documenting conflict in the region and didn’t want his full name used.

For the past 10 years he’s shifted his focus from the places to the people. 

“My people always fascinate me, because they have stories to tell,” Ali said. To him, conflict brings anxiousness and misery, and he wanted to cover that, not just beautiful scenes. His work focuses on the harsh realities in his home country, 

Another mentee, Joshua Irwandi, from Jakarta, Indonesia, described the program as a retreat. 

Joshua Irwandi, left, talks with mentor Philip Blenkinsop after the final showcase of mentees’ work.

“I get to rest my head a little bit and then actually look at people’s work. I mean, just looking at this exhibition here, you know, like, how do people see things?” Irwandi asked. (You can view Irwandi’s work here: https://www.joshuairwandi.com/)

Knight said he encourages the mentees to think big. “What I hope to encourage them is to be… more ambitious, and more confident about the space that they occupy in the media.”

He also hopes that the relationships they formed in the mentoring program endure.

“Now they have very strong friendships,” Knight said. “They have a global community.”

Bizimana, who participated in a VII Academy program in his home country, hopes that VII Academy will return to Rwanda, so that others can learn like he did. He hopes to teach as Knight and other professors have taught him at the academy. That’s why he wants to be a journalist, he said, so he can give back to others.

Because Rwanda has little tradition of photojournalism, the 1994 Rwandan Civil War and other news in the country has mostly been photographed by international photographers who helicopter in to record the story and then leave.

“My goal is for people to say, ‘Oh we have this professional photographer in Rwanda, now we don’t need to send someone else. Because he’s there and is on the same level.”