"Shots" of soul

If it is a platitude to say that every city has a soul, it is a much more difficult task to define it, and above all, to take a picture of it. Nervertheless, that is what Marc Legros, an Angers photographer, tried to realize with the help a hundred inhabitants in a project en titled "L'âme d'Angers". Mr Legros gave to each of them a camera, then let them go throughout the town where they took thousands of pictures in accordance with their own view and feelings for their city. The method, a little unexpected and whose results even disappointed (temporarily) Marc Legros, could be nevertheless faithful of the mood of Angers.

What is in common between a tree of the Botanical Garden whose branches look roots, the bottom of an old wall, the way out of the railway station, the entrance of the Les 400 Coups cinema or the quay of the Maine under the plane trees of the La Rochefoucauld square : the fact all these places "speak" to their photographers. These, with Marc Legros' help, selected one picture, then were invited to define it with a word. "Roots", "to withstand", "temporal", "bitter sweet moment", "freedom", "to meet", "to go away" are some of the definitions of the pictures.

These pictures "develop" the collective feeling of the Angevins (and even one of their collective character traits : they hate to be in the forefront) which is not always flattering. These appear like people trying to escape from something, feeling that things are precarious but who neverthess love their territory and seem convinced that, gathered, they are able to overcome the challenges.