“That’s a rival sperm whale!”
It’s trendy, with publishers bringing together sharp scientists and wacky artists to curate knowledge. Thus a new collection in Actes Sud.
Although Bohm Bernos never dived with sperm whales, the designer is led by François Sarano, a former member of Commander Cousteau’s crew.
DR
More than ever, scientists want to share their experiences. Always more audible, the younger fighters for ecology… enough to give ideas to publishers eager to conquer new territories. “If we want to show that we are not in our ivory tower, we must give signals by publishing graphic and non-intimidating works”, confirms Blandine Genton, director of CNRS editions, in Livres Hebdo.
Philippe Charlier, successor of Jean Malary, head of the collection “Terre Humaine” in the Blown editions, the historical pioneer of this kind of popular publication, affirms this necessary openness: “The humanities and social sciences should not forbid themselves, including hybridity. Forms to enable more accessible and complementary approaches”.
Following Dargaud, La Découverte or Le Seuil, the house of Actes Sud introduces “Graphic Worlds”. The label only has two more titles, but already exudes an insane charm. Relating a field scientist to an artist around an animal, points of view are hybridized in a muscular ping-pong between fantasy and real data that will make you swoon. The clash of approaches undermines the position of the specialist in each field.
Between science and poetry is a very broad…
Southern Laws
It is an opportunity for researchers to immerse themselves in the close intimacy they maintain with the object of their interest, awaken careers, and initiate essential patience. The artistic contribution, an undeniable weapon of seduction, opens him up in a complex choreography of pleasure and mastery, with this pas de deux fragile balance. The bugs of these animals often tend to escape behind the horizon line, but here the usual little tricks cannot be resorted to. With a biologist as a partner, one must stick to reality without losing the poetry along the way.
A playful approach that opens the eyes.
Southern Laws
Under his utopian title à la Saint-Exupéry, “Please, draw me a sperm whale”, oceanographer François Sarano, for example, has shared since 2011 a very intensive logbook of the activities of Irène, Issa, Mina, Caroline and other cetaceans. 2019. Anthropology stops at first names, whether biologists distinguish between jokers or nagging, curious models, adventurers, or vice versa. Stories abound. “A whole book would not be enough to transcribe all this,” he admits.
“Sperm whales sleep next to each other, standing upright like menhirs, 20 meters under the skin of the sea, Carnac.”
In permanent support, Bohm Bernos’s drawings suggest vertiginous craters. Yet, as the complicity of knowledge exerted a unique power, data became as digestible as squid swallowed by these sea giants. From scientific observations to poetic flights, a whole world arises. See the episode of “Dormeurs du val”, a moment punctuated by Rimbaud’s verses, pure whales: “Sperm whales sleep on each other, standing like menhirs, 20 meters under the skin of Carnac, the ‘sea’. Migrations, descents, descents under the stars, for sperm whales This journey, in its flat solitude, in its multitude of pictorial drawings, presents a rare originality.
A new collection at Actes Sud combines scientific rigor and graphic imagination.
Southern Laws
“The Bear, A Short Humorous Essay for Human Use” demonstrates that osmotic skills can be practiced in landscape mode. Passionate about the Arctic, author of “The Bear, the Other of Man”, seasoned explorer, Remy Marion Olivier Lavigne seduced and accomplished “Tadasophist”, graphic designer established in a village in the Ardeche. Together, they revisit Plantigrade’s cave, its folklore, its legends, its events. More than Michel Pasteur in his classic “History of the Fallen King,” the book described Plantigrade as a small schoolboy playing with puppets. But the anthology’s bet is to promote new forms of documentary storytelling with strong ecological content. will continue.
“Draw me a sperm whale please”
Bom Bernoz & Francois Sarano
“The Bear, A Short Humorous Essay for the Use of Men”
Olivier Levigne & Remy Marion
Ed. Actus Sud, Wild Worlds
Each module has its own style according to the corresponding pairs.
Southern Laws
Everything you need to know about sperm whales and even things you didn’t suspect.
DR
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