The doors of Saint Hippo

Or: How the Cigalois deal with the change that time inevitably brings.

I have now been living in the French village of Saint-Hippolyte for a few years. When I first arrived, I experienced a great sense of wonder almost daily. From the roof tiles on the houses to the subtropical nature: everything seemed different from what I was used to in the Netherlands. That great sense of wonder has since given way to much more understanding and, of course, familiarity. But as a new "Cigalois" (resident of Saint-Hippolyte) with Dutch roots, my perspective remains different; the differences with "the North" still stand out.

For example, Dutch people tend to opt for radical renewal when maintaining their homes. The Cigalois have more respect for the existing, the old, the durable.

This is visible in the streets, on the facades of the houses, and especially on the doors and windows. During my many walks through the streets, I felt the need to preserve this still-present sense of wonder. It was the inspiration for creating this series about the doors and windows of the Cigalois(es).

What stands out

I have tried to put into words what strikes me. It is the combination of the old and the new, the building upon the old; the addition of "new" necessities (such as electricity, internet) to the existing. But also the (endless) repairing of the old, such as:

• new paint on old weathered doors and shutters
• old paint on old doors (functional or not)
• new doors where old windows used to be – the stone framing is still visible
• windows where doors used to be, partially bricked up
• old walls under crumbling plaster
• new plaster on old walls
• new meter-, internet- and mailboxes in old walls, doors, and windows

Cracks, peeling, rusting, closing, opening, repairing, painting, and reinforcing seem to be part of an eternal cycle.

Rough weathered walls and refined carpentry, soft colors and hard materials.

Prejudices or cultural difference – with a wink

Of course, it is often easy – and sometimes amusing – to fall back on the prejudices that Dutch people cherish about the French. In this case, it’s mainly about messiness, or the so-called "French touch" ("met de Franse slag").

Where Dutch people might judge something as being done only half and carelessly – "with the French touch" – the French see it as a practical solution that (largely) meets the requirements without incurring high costs (who was the thrifty one again?).

Houses here are often literally built to last for eternity. The village is full of buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries, with the ground floor often even a century or two older. Running water, sewage, garages for cars, gas pipes, electricity, telephone, and internet... all of this was added later. And that’s not even mentioning what has disappeared: workshops attached to homes, small shops, watermills, entire factories, and hospitality establishments that were present in large numbers in all the streets until the last century.

It therefore makes sense to choose reuse and adaptation rather than demolition and rebuilding, which is something you see on a larger scale in the Netherlands.

Of course, as a Dutch person, you could argue that it’s a pointless, perhaps even chauvinistic clinging to the past, without regard for modernity. However, the numerous new buildings (which, by the way, are often just as ugly as those in the Netherlands) show that the French are just as modernistic as the Northerners.

I must conclude that it is a difference in approach: you don’t throw away what still works, you don’t demolish what is still good, but you integrate the new as well as possible into the existing. It’s a kind of sustainability thinking that the Dutch have traded in for economic efficiency – in the short term.

The common thread

All this adapting and building upon leads to what I have come to see as a cheerful – and sometimes beautiful – messiness. Compositions that are too beautiful to be coincidence, or so coincidental that they become almost beautiful. Compromises between what is beautiful and what is practically necessary, between the reality of everyday life and eternal aesthetics.

This has become the common thread of this series of works: "Les Portes de St. Hippo".

What haven’t these doors seen in their existence? From the daily commute to work or the market, to entire lifetimes. From occupations by their own government to wars with foreign powers. From wealth and poverty through industrialization and military school to economic decline and revival in the most recent years.

Technique

The series is executed in a technique I call "dessinography" (which translates roughly to "drawing-graphy" in English); a combination that captures the harsh reality and poetry exactly as I see them.

Because I want to stay close to reality – and not show something from my own imagination – the use of photography is obvious. Moreover, it forces me to focus on composition and the selection of subjects.

I only use photo editing apps to perfect the framing and correct the errors or distortions introduced by the camera. In rare cases, I have to combine multiple photos into one image to achieve the desired crop. Otherwise, the use of the app is limited to optimizing color saturation, lighting, and contrast; no retouching, no additions, or AI-generated computer imagery.

To accentuate the material representation, the structure of stone, wood, paint, etc., and to clarify the composition, I use an algorithmic app that generates a vectorized drawing based on the created photograph. I manipulate the parameters (detail, styling, balancing of light and dark) to achieve the desired effect.

Finally, I combine the vector drawing, the photograph, and a background/frame in multiple transparent layers to create the final result.

The resulting images present a colour scheme that fits perfectly with the regional colour scheme of the Languedoc, which I wrote about previously.

Gallery

I publish all the works in this series in my gallery on NFT-Showroom. Below is a selection of what is currently available; much more to come soon!