Re-enchanting our lives

“The future is not what will happen, but what we will do.” Henri Bergson

Could we have imagined, even for an instant, that our lives would suddenly be put on hold, that our societies would be brought to a dramatic halt in their rush towards an often unchecked modernity? The Covid-19 pandemic has turned everything upside down. Nothing has gone to plan since the beginning of 2020. Millions of lives have been lost, the global economy is experiencing its worst recession since the Great Crash of 1929, cultural events have been sidelined and every one of us has been stripped of our most fundamental freedoms to move and meet up as we please, to hug our loved ones, to enjoy the great outdoors… quite simply, to live a normal life. Our social lives have slowly been whittled down to our inner family circles.

Yet the lockdown measures introduced to combat the spread of the virus have, paradoxically, hinted at the possibility of a brighter future. The sudden suspension of economic activity in the name of public health has also revealed the strength of utopias: the disaster currently underway highlights the fragility of a system formed by interconnected social structures, our productive system and the biosphere. A desire for solidarity has emerged, and we now know that we can orchestrate change at any time and forge awareness from a catastrophe. This is true of our relationship with nature, and it is the message that we have always aimed to convey since the very first La Gacilly Photo Festival: using images to showcase the precarious beauty of our Earth through the visions of artists.

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