For Eye for Photography, photo books are as important as an exhibition or portfolio. They make the history and authenticity of the medium. Our reporter Zoé Isle de Beauchaine takes a tireless and knowledgeable look at the latest releases.
The book opens and closes on a few branches and dead leaves that lie beneath the wheelbarrow in a soft glow. A picture bordering on pride, simple but full of poetry, like the entire series that Anne Immelé created in the Riesthal gardens.
The Riesthal Gardens are the first working gardens on the outskirts of Mulhouse. In 2005, the photographer, his family and a few friends took over the 100th place, transforming it from a desert into a humid area where species of animals live in harmony.
Anne Immelé has created this garden in such a way that time seems to stand still and is often enhanced by the rays of the summer sun. In fact, this area is always there, the fruits are picked, the pieces of the vegetable garden will be composted, the fields are renewed when the fire burns.
Between the branches of fruit trees, children play, laugh, dream, look at the plant environment around them and use it to make games. They are just as happy as nature in this garden. By combining the childhood and plant kingdoms, Anne Immelé draws a lifestyle and freedom.
Another method that combines his way of taking care of agriculture and growing vegetables: “Many gardeners try to manage their culture well, protect their vegetables from all diseases, looking for productivity. As for us, we let nature do its work, overflowing the garden as it goes, constantly being renewed with exotic plants that are good for insects, we let the so-called wild plants to stay together with cultivated plants.
A sensitive and poetic testimony, Jardins du Riesthal seeks a respectful relationship with plant life, confirming the commitment to the environment that Anne Immelé intends to convey: “The enjoyment of time spent in these gardens is the best way to convey the gesture of planting, and the relationship with the earth and future generations.”
Anne Immelé – Riesthal Gardens
Published by Mediapop, 2022
With texts by Jean-Christophe Bailly and Corinne Maury
200 x 230 mm, 128 pages
ISBN: 978-2-491436-59-9
Price : 30 € for the book
Available in bookstores and online
Anne Immelé’s website
Anne Immelé’s Instagram page