I will be as strong as a Moai

After I lost my father I needed to walk in his footsteps in the South Pacific, in Vanuatu where he was a teacher early in his career. This final journey with my father helped me to go back to life by letting go of him completely.

The culture there immersed me in a daily life where we live in symbiosis with nature so much so that it overflows. A ‘back to basics’ on several levels. Thanks to his stories and photographs I was able to trace many of his former students who told me about him and his desire to integrate fully into their community.

I combine his archives with my own photographs and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two periods. These timeless images become witnesses to the preservation of the environment of these people and their culture.

I went to the crater at the top of Yasur volcano in Tanna, where I ‘poured’ yellow Gingko leaves to symbolize my father’s ashes: a long time ago, he wanted us to scatter his ashes in this volcano. Realizing it would be a difficult task to accomplish, he then asked us to spread them in our garden in France. So we planted a gingko tree in this spot. In this way, I was able to share something from my home with these people and their environment.

I then crossed the Pacific Ocean to confront the Moai, these large statues on Easter Island. I ‘asked them for accountability' as before his cancer took him away, my father messaged me to say ‘I will be as strong as a Moai’.

© Camille Mazier - Pacific - Love of peace
i

Pacific - Love of peace

© Camille Mazier - Archive, Moai, Easter Island, 1979
i

Archive, Moai, Easter Island, 1979

© Camille Mazier - Found peace, Yasur, 2017
i

Found peace, Yasur, 2017

© Camille Mazier - Wave, Easter Island, 2018
i

Wave, Easter Island, 2018

© Camille Mazier - Volcano wave, Tanna, 2017
i

Volcano wave, Tanna, 2017

© Camille Mazier - Ginkgo leaf, Yasur, 2017
i

Ginkgo leaf, Yasur, 2017

© Camille Mazier - Archive, Wild Horses wave, Easter Island, 1979
i

Archive, Wild Horses wave, Easter Island, 1979

© Camille Mazier - Motu, Easter Island, 2018
i

Motu, Easter Island, 2018

© Camille Mazier - Timeless scene
i

Timeless scene

© Camille Mazier - New Year's Eve, 2018
i

New Year's Eve, 2018

© Camille Mazier - My father, in front of the Yasut, Tanna, 1977
i

My father, in front of the Yasut, Tanna, 1977

© Camille Mazier - Timeless scene
i

Timeless scene

© Camille Mazier - Pacific - Love of peace
i

Pacific - Love of peace

© Camille Mazier - Small volcano
i

Small volcano

© Camille Mazier - Archive, my father's classroom 1978
i

Archive, my father's classroom 1978

© Camille Mazier - Footsteps
i

Footsteps

© Camille Mazier - Yasur, Tanna, 2017
i

Yasur, Tanna, 2017

© Camille Mazier - Nimanipen, Tanna, 2018
i

Nimanipen, Tanna, 2018

© Camille Mazier - Jedrian, Tanna, 2018
i

Jedrian, Tanna, 2018

© Camille Mazier - Back to life
i

Back to life

Latest Projects

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Stay in the loop


We will send you weekly news on contemporary photography. You can change your mind at any time. We will treat your data with respect. For more information please visit our privacy policy. By ticking here, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with them. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.