Materia Prima // subscription for the book by Hervé Jézéquel, photographer, Françoise Paviot, critic, and Violaine Sautter, geologist

Subscriptions are open to contribute to the emergence of this wonderful project.

A grass carving its circular path through the lava. This is the image I retain from my meeting with Hervé Jezequel last April.

At first glance, one might think that this dance between mineral and plant can be found anywhere. But upon closer inspection, the nature of the soil leaves no doubt. It is lava. Therefore, a volcano. There are a thousand and one in the world, but this is Iceland. More precisely, Surtsey; a microscopic island that emerged off the coast of the Westman Islands following a volcanic eruption; an island that is gradually crumbling into the ocean, doomed to disappear in a few decades, and which Hervé Jezequel explored in the company of Icelandic scientists and ethnologist Vanessa Doutreleau for the beautiful book Surtsey, the shape of an island , which paradoxically offers an "ethnography of the uninhabited."

I have often had the opportunity to regret the heavy price paid for tourist success by Iceland, mainly through its ecosystem, but also its economic balance, the job market, and also the representation given to its landscapes, ultra-photographed, ultra-broadcast.

How many times have I looked away from my lens, knowing that there was material for a "nice photo" but that I had already seen it 10 times, 100 times.

This makes it all the more difficult to offer a singular perspective. With this grass, into which I project the metaphor of an obstinacy to defy the balance of power, with its images of matter whose scale could be the microscopic as well as the large landscape, it is this small miracle that Hervé Jézéquel achieves.

After Surtsey, he once again explored the Icelandic lands, getting as close as possible to their material, and this is the project of his new book, Materia Prima , which will be published in March 2025 by Atelier des Brisants, with texts by Françoise Paviot, critic, and Violaine Sautter, geologist. Subscription is open until October 22, 2024 on the publisher's website www.editions-atelierdesbrisants.com to contribute to the emergence of this beautiful project.