France’s irregular heritage is closely linked to the intellectual heritage of Laurent Danchin. Its ambition was to launch a global movement to safeguard the heritage of contemporary popular art, including the preservation project of the Preludian Art Village of Chomo. Networking, making creations and irregular practices visible, sharing backup solutions, and pursuing research through meetings and symposia are for PiF founding elements of its approach. This series of meetings was born to pay tribute to Laurent Danchin and to continue the explorations on extraordinary art environments in the company of specialists in the sector.
We are pleased to welcome photographer Francis David. While working in a psychiatric hospital in Chartres, Francis David met the widow of Raymond Isidore dit Picassiette (1900-1964). Sensitized to decor and art brut by his professional universe, Francis David is interested in the notions of freedom and the evolutionary aspect of a total and monumental work. Driven by this discovery, he traveled France three weeks a year, several consecutive years (from 1978 to 1992) in search of gardens or houses to capture the unusual in photography in order to realize an editorial collection. Some of his photographs will be visible as part of the archive exhibition at the town hall of Achères-la-Forêt, organized to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Village of Chomo (multipurpose room of Achères-la-Forêt). Sonia Terhzaz devotes part of her free time to travel around France to discover unusual places and their creators. The idea of drawing up its "mapping of rocamberlus" through books, websites and random discoveries, was gradually imposed and it creates an internet platform in April 2023. https://www.cartographie-des-rocamberlus.com/