Four weeks spent crisscrossing the roads of France to “capture moments of alchemy between light, landscape, places and the people who bring café-bars to life on a daily basis.” This is the human adventure that lies behind the original Carte Blanche project awarded to photographer Olivier Culmann. It highlights 10 personal stories, whose common thread is the courage of men and women working in their own way, and in spite of the pandemic, to continue to create a true and authentic form of conviviality in their local community. In all, the project collects more than a thousand snapshots and over one hundred faces.
“It was important to renew an intimate connection with these spaces that enliven our regions and the people who keep them alive,” explains Olivier Culmann. This ambitious photographic project is distinguished by its principle of accumulation. The world of cafés and restaurants, as seen across 10 cities and villages in France, is captured through six photographic series inspired by everyday life. Through his offbeat approach, based on formats familiar to everyone, the artist transcends the frame to reconnect with our collective imagination: team-style group photos, old-fashioned portraits of café managers, photobooths, postcards, architectural views of cafés and restaurants, bistro accessories against a backdrop of Formica, zinc and chequered tablecloths…
The result is teeming with life and anchored firmly in ordinary reality. “My work is a photographic portrait focusing on several themes: people, social ties, environment, places and their symbolic representation in everyday objects.” With this Carte Blanche project, Olivier Culmann invites us to rediscover the essence of conviviality.
In this way, a genuine documentary series unfolds across the pages of this annual report. This Carte Blanche project would not have been possible without the invaluable support of the Pernod Ricard France sales teams, who sourced these stories from their customer partners and distributors, nor without the support of 1,000 Cafés, an initiative supported by the SOS Group, whose mission is to reintroduce village cafés and bistros. These are spaces of conviviality that have disappeared in our rural communities and for which the Group serves as a key partner.
