La Transhumance

In Provence, a timeless ritual occurs each year: La Transhumance. It's a journey of shepherds and their flocks, from lowland pastures to alpine meadows, driven by seasonal forces. It's a ritual steeped in a history as enduring as the region’s rugged landscapes. La Transhumance is not just an event, but a way of life. It's a delicate symbiosis between land, labor, and culture. Last year, I had the extraordinary privilege of witnessing and photographing La Transhumance in Provence.

The photographs capture the resilience of tradition, but they also tell a story of the fragility of cultural heritage in an era of globalization, climate change, and economic upheaval. This story is not just a French story; it's the story of rural traditions worldwide, and of a planet in flux. It's a story that's as much about resistance as it is about beauty. It's a story of the endurance of local culture in the face of globalism. It's a story of resistance to the disconnection from nature that modernity demands. And finally, it's a story about the strength and resilience of the Provençal spirit and its unique position within the French cultural landscape.

The images are a window into a world that is rapidly disappearing. Climate change, with its unrelenting droughts and shifting ecosystems, threatens the viability of traditional agrarian practices. Globalization and the pressures of capitalism push the younger generations away from the fields and into cities. These traditions are not merely endangered; they are on the brink of extinction.

La Transhumance continues, but the question remains: for how much longer?