Les Photographiques

Resulting from a first initiative in 1978, the Festival of the image, first name of what will become Les Photographiques and name of the association of volunteers organizing the event, was born in 1982 and remains, by its long history, the 'one of the first annual festivals to defend photography in France. A time open to the image more generally, the event has continued to evolve over the decades, welcoming several generations of authors, crossing the various currents of contemporary photography, and thereby creating a transversal collection for over thirty years. Became Les Photographiques in 2006, the event remains open to the diversity of media and trends in photography today, while retaining what makes its soul, allowing everyone, and especially young people, to sharpen their gaze and to learn to read the images, to initiate meetings between authors and audiences, while discovering the national and international photographic scene. Offering a series of collective and personal exhibitions on Le Mans Métropole and beyond, the event presents each year a guest photographer and several photographers selected via a call for authors. For the past four years, it has also been accompanied by an Associate Program, a sort of OFF that radiates across the city and the department.