I planned to visit Porquerolles in the Autumn
2020. Unfortunately, like many of us, recent
events have shattered my travel plans.
There will be no cavorting in the shallow waters
of the Notre Dame beach, nor will I watch the
evening on the place d'Armes sitting from the
small concrete wall that faces the church Sainte-
Anne.
But that's okay because I've spent the last months
with Porquerolles. As I was finishing the editing
of a film I shot between Giens and Porquerolles
in 2018, I felt the need to stay on the island one
way or another.
And so came in mind the idea of the Familiar
Places series. I gathered a collection of photos
and notes in those past confined months, and
there I was, transported back to Porquerolles. I
felt the wind on my face from the Pointe du
Ribaud, I heard the song of the cicadas in the
pinède, and I tasted the citrus notes in the white
wine of the Domaine de l'Ile.
A feeling of shame crossed my body when I
remembered that, even so briefly, I once took this
magnificent place for granted. And today,
8074km away, swarmed with twenty years of
memories, I can only be thankful to consider
Porquerolles a familiar place.