Self-taught photographer, Pascal Mannaerts has been travelling the world with his camera for about ten years. On the occasion of Mother's Day, here is a collection of photos of her mothers around the world. A series of photographs taken around the world. A celebration of these mothers who make life in India, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Brazil and many other countries. You will find even more moms and trips on its website parcheminsdailleurs.com
We are in the streets of Pushkar, Rajasthan, one of the most beautiful regions of India to which I return again and again. I walk around town with my camera. The streets are still deserted, like the imprints of a delicious mystery that I savour every second. It is 7 a.m., one of my favorite moments, wherever I am, to observe people and life regain its rights after the night lull. I sit for a few moments in front of a magnificent house. A mother comes out with her child. Her flamboyant outfit stands out in the calm of this early morning. The magic is total. (Pushkar, India - 2008)
We are in the middle of the bush in southern Ethiopia, in a camp of the Hamer people. All the women are gathered in the shade, under a straw roof. The men are sitting a little further away. We are welcomed by a group of women in the most natural way. I've been watching a mother play with her son for a while. She makes him hop on her lap, caresses his face, passes him into the hands of other women before jealously taking him back in her arms. Suddenly, she leans over to him and kisses him three times. Briefly. Firmly. It's like time stood still. (Turmi, Ethiopia - 2011)
I have been in Barreirinhas, in the state of Maranhão, Brazil, for several days now. A delicious impression of the end of the world with people of an extraordinary hospitality. I'm staying with a lovely little family who helped me find a ride to explore the legendary Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. I spend a lot of time with the family. The father, Isaias, speaks good English. He acts as an interpreter between me and the others. Lucila, the mother, is proud of her little Gabriel. She spends long hours chatting with her family and neighbours in front of the house. In the last few days, time has taken on a whole new scale for me. (Barreirinhas, Brazil - 2013)
Kyoto's Maruyama Park, a sublime and soothing place in this mythical city, where people love to stroll at any time of the day. A place to meet the Japanese. Mother and daughter meet again on an autumn afternoon. They are having fun and clearly spotted me taking pictures of the park. And of them, at the same time... which makes them laugh even more. Then I show them the pictures on the screen of my camera, they are amazed. Exchange of email addresses for photo sharing: a process that has become so common and easy today in all these interactions with people you meet on the roads of the world. (Kyoto, Japan - 2015)
We venture into the Todra Gorges. The mountains glitter with their orange tones, under an azure blue sky dotted with thick clouds carried by the wind. The place encourages meditation, in the face of such a powerful nature. We marvel at the clouds that flash overhead, contrasting with the eternal and unchanging mountains. The hours go by and we don't see anyone. Suddenly, a mother appears in the middle of nowhere. She carries her child on her back and walks with a good step through the rocks. She gives us great signs and illuminates us with her beautiful smile. (Tinerhir, Morocco - 2003)
A look, a face. Time is suspended in the crowd in front of the Damascus Gate in the Muslim quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Holy for Jews, Christians and Muslims, the Old City of Jerusalem is one of the most important places of pilgrimage in the world and a place where millennia of history still live. Immersing oneself in this place, which is supposed to be linked to so many beliefs that unite and divide men, it is impossible not to let oneself go towards this or that emotion, rocked to the rhythm of the three monotheistic blocks that cross, graze, embrace or stare at it from the corner of one's eye. (Jerusalem, Israel - 2010)
I'm in the area of Sapa, Vietnam. I left before dawn this morning. It's cold and misty. I leave town and go down into the valley. There is a whole series of hamlets inhabited by the Black Hmong, one of the majority ethnic groups in the region. From 6 a.m., life begins, some mothers leave for the city with their children on their backs, others go to the fields. I meet them in the mist, their silhouettes are on the horizon. The children are all amused to see me. The mothers are beautiful with their large earrings and traditional indigo-coloured clothes. (Sapa, Vietnam -2001)
A mother returns home with her son to the small village of Bulunkul, in Pamir, GBAO province in Tajikistan. Lost in the middle of a mountain desert, the windy village of Bukunkul is 16 kilometres from the Pamir Road. It welcomes about twenty families living in a few houses made of a mixture of bricks, clay, mud, wood and stones. Known in Persian as "Bam-i-Dunya" (the "Roof of the World"), Pamir is one of the most unexplored and isolated regions on earth. Totally closed to foreigners in the Soviet era until the early 1990s, the region is now open to adventurers from all over the world. (Bulunkul, GBAO-Tajikistan - 2016)
Lose yourself in the colours of the Andes Cordillera, meeting its fascinating and mysterious peoples. The inhabitants of the region are proud of themselves. They inspire feelings of respect and admiration. A mother poses with her son and their alpaca in the heights of Cuzco, Peru. Alpacas were domesticated around 7000 BC by shepherds and became one of the symbols of Andean culture. Alpaca fibre was once reserved for the Inca elite and religious festivals. Today it is considered one of the most luxurious in the world. (Cuzco, Peru - 2005)
Puja poses with her two sons in Jaisalmer, on the edge of the Thar desert. They are from the Bhopa caste. Considered as low caste, the Bhopas are from Rajasthan. They used to travel from village to village to animate festivals and sing local legends. In this way, they perpetuated the oral tradition in rural areas. Today, they are musicians, dancers, storytellers, puppeteers, and live together in "artist colonies", especially in and around the city of Jaisalmer. (Jaisalmer, India - 2013)
