{"id":13879,"date":"2024-10-01T11:37:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T09:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chateaudeau.toulouse.fr\/agenda\/richard-pak-la-firme-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:09:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:09:50","slug":"richard-pak-la-firme","status":"publish","type":"onct-event","link":"https:\/\/chateaudeau.toulouse.fr\/en\/richard-pak-la-firme-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Pak \u00ab The Firm \u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Firm. Cycle: \u201cLes \u00eeles du d\u00e9sir\u201d (Islands of Desire). <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n
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A confetti-like island lost in the depth of the South Atlantic, 2,771 km from South Africa and 3,223 km from Brazil. The nearest land is the island of Saint Helena, 2,418 km to the north-north-east and, with its 96 km2 surface area, the volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha rises to a height of 2,062 m. In other words, a world away from the world.
Richard Pak settled there at the end of 2016 for three months and began his cycle on the insular world, which he then developed and is still continuing. Nevertheless, he had to reach the island first: \u201cGetting to Tristan da Cunha is a challenge. Some people wait more than two years. First, one has to get permission from the island council. Then there is the search for a place on one of the few fishing boats that sail there. When the archipelago is finally in sight, after eight days of sailing to the threshold of the roaring forties, the weather has to be good enough to allow for cargo and passengers to reach the shore, which is never guaranteed.\u201d
There, as the only visitor among the 260 inhabitants – who had only eight different surnames – and a few expatriates, mainly British and a few South Africans, he proceeded slowly, taking his bearings, looking for traces of a singular history that saw this territory tied to the British Crown governed by an organisation that ignored hierarchy, private property and money.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Strong values of solidarity and cohabitation remain from this beautiful utopia.
Richard Pak drew on this experience and attentiveness to capture gentle images, a combination of landscapes and portraits in soothing, unostentatious tones that breathe both a sense of spaciousness and a closeness to those he photographed. These documentary photographs, which seek neither to create a narrative nor to prove anything, are accompanied by documents and footage. The notes he wrote during his stay have enabled him to create a book about the most isolated inhabited territory on our planet.
Neither a historian, nor an ethnologist, nor a sociologist, but undeniably curious, thoroughly informed and a true photographer, Richard Pak merely extends an invitation to discover this singular universe that he wanted to experience. The combination of tenderness and fragility he conveys brings to mind the words of Eric Orsena: \u201cAn island is by definition fragile and nomadic. Everyone is afraid that it will dissolve at some point or drift away\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian Caujolle, Curator<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Young
\u00a9Richard PAK_La Firme_Cycle “Les \u00eeles du d\u00e9sir.” Tristan da Cunha, 2016-2017. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u00a9Richard PAK_La Firme_Cycle “Les \u00eeles du d\u00e9sir.” Tristan da Cunha, 2016-2017. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u00a9Richard PAK_La Firme_Cycle “Les \u00eeles du d\u00e9sir.” Tristan da Cunha, 2016-2017. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n
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The series \u201cLa Firme\u201d is the first chapter in an anthology (Les \u00eeles du d\u00e9sir \u2013 Islands of desire) devoted to the insular world. Islands, places where few people live, nurture a fantasy shared by many. As well as simply being far away, they suggest a break with everyday life. Islands fascinate travellers just as much as they shape their inhabitants. In the collective imagination, they are on the edge, representing the median point between the unknown and the known. The etymology of the word isolate refers to \u201cto separate like an island (isola)\u201d and I could hardly have found better than Tristan da Cunha to begin a cycle on insularity. <\/p>\nLa Firme, Richard Pak<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9Richard PAK_La Firme_Cycle “Les \u00eeles du d\u00e9sir.” Tristan da Cunha, 2016-2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Text extract from Richard Pak
Series La Firme (Tristan da Cunha, 2016\/17)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The name of the Portuguese navigator who discovered it in the 16th century is misleading for this discreetly mythical and resolutely British island. The volcano is eight days by boat from Cape Town, the only way to get there. Therefore, this confetti-like island of one hundred square kilometres is a perfect triangle in the middle of the South Atlantic, the most isolated inhabited territory on the planet. However, it was not the exotic nature of its remoteness that drew me there, but rather its unique history and the idealistic values that underpin the small society that clings to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1816, an agreement was entered into by the first inhabitants, who referred to themselves as \u201cthe firm\u201d, and the British Crown. The few articles of the agreements stated that \u201chere, no one shall be superior to anyone else\u201d, \u201call shall be considered equal\u201d and \u201call profits made shall be shared equally\u201d. In fact, there was no private property, no boss, no money – everyone helped each other. The land is still communal. The only condition is to build a house on it. Lending a helping hand makes sense, because no one can exist alone. They continue to live together in every sense of the word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The utopian experience remained largely unknown until 1961, when the volcano began to rumble. The two hundred and sixty islanders were evacuated and thrown into post-industrial Britain. The British government thought it was as much about saving them from an undoubtedly fatal destiny as about enlightening them about the benefits of consumer society. And, incidentally, to get rid of this tiny territory of virtually no strategic interest, which was on a permanent financial drip. However, the Tristanians were not too impressed by this modern world so far removed from their own, and preferred to return to their island two years later. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

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Help with the visit<\/strong>. Download the three media: Educational pack <\/a>| Games booklet<\/a> | Information Falc<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Le livre : La Firme <\/strong>aux Editions Atelier EXB<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Photographies : Richard Pak  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Textes de Richard Pak, Michel Poivert (historien), Marie Redon (G\u00e9ographe)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardcover – 19 x 27 cm, 144 pages, 60 photographies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales price : 45 euros<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mercredi 11 d\u00e9cembre – 1<\/strong>7h30 : Signature avec Richard Pak<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
\"Oc\u00e9an<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n
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