about

The fair is a central event in the organization of life in Reunion, across all communities, directly linked to the importance of gastronomy in society.

Its daily routine is always the same. Vans loaded with vendors leave the island's highlands early in the cool night air to reach their numbered spots and set up the same structure each time: trestles and parasols, the arrangement of stalls—all within a well-defined framework. The market is delimited. Each vendor must stay within their assigned space. Pedestrian access areas are maintained.

Until 6 a.m., the market is the domain of the stallholders. Then the customers arrive. And as the day progresses, under an increasingly oppressive heat, their numbers will grow. They will disrupt the carefully planned order of dawn. Leaving laden in unknown directions, little by little, amidst the smells of pineapple and fried food, the stalls dwindle, peelings pile up at the foot of the trestles. The market vendors pack up. What remains on the ground will feed a few local chicken coops. The square will be clear for the night when they return the following week.

The structure and organization of this event seems to follow the same rhythms as what constitutes its essence: life.

The stalls change and repeat themselves with the seasons. The market is renewed weekly. The stalls fill up and empty as customers pass by.

The rhythm, the crowd, the sounds, the colours, the smells... and the promise of taste.

A thousand frequencies overlap and resonate. Some are surprising and fleeting, others repeated, sometimes continuous. They vary whether one is moving or not. Circulation is omnipresent. The market is fluid, it pulsates, it lives.

In my observation of this world, my attention was drawn both to the circulating goods and to the "organs" of the market, which ensure its functioning and are always present in its landscape, at all stages: the parasols, the crates, the trestles, the Dyna...