Faire revenir les fantômes

Paganism has left its mark on popular culture in the Pyrenees. For centuries, the slightest occurrence outside the norms of everyday life was interpreted as a sign from heaven or from the devil, depending on the beliefs held to chase away illness, storms or bad harvests. Our ancestors lived in another world where the invisible could have an impact on everyday life.

All that remains of the Pyrenean pantheon are devils, spirits, fairies, will-o’-the-wisps, giants, werewolves, bogeymen, cursed hunters and nightmarish creatures who never cease to surprise and terrorise the living. All these mythical beings derive from secondary divinities dating back to pre-Christian times, and have come to be folklorised in the many tales and legends of popular tradition.

The last manifestations of ancient mountain paganism are embodied in witchcraft, with its magical plants and secret invocations, revealing poetry that has enchanted the world for thousands of years.

Bringing back the ghosts today means invoking those geniuses who have disappeared or are hidden away, perhaps waiting to exist again, for better or for worse.

It’s about conjuring up the magic of the countryside, invoking personal and collective traumas of the past and present, conjuring up childhood fears and those to come, and fantasising about worlds never before known, like travelling back in time through folklore and fantasy.


Translated extract from the exhibition presentation, Galerie du Philosophe, Carla-Bayle, France