ラッセラー、ラッセラー!SOLO EXHIBITION MARSEILLE

ラッセラー、ラッセラー! Photo story from Nebuta to Tōkyō 2023

ラッセラー、ラッセラー!

E X P O S I T I O N   S O L O

7 〜 MAY 17, 2026

I’m delighted to invite you to this solo exhibition at Galerie Patrick Reygade in Marseille, opening on Thursday May 7 at 6.30pm.

The photographic story [ラッセラー、ラッセラー!], shot in Tōkyō in October 2023, will be presented for the first time.

In the basement of the gallery, my work on light writing will also be exhibited, along with a photographic installation and a Sound design by Puzzle Persos, for an immersive experience.

Nearly eighty photographs, including some in large portfolios, will be unveiled for this major event in my career as a photographer.

Galerie Patrick Reygade
8 rue Fontange, Marseille 6°

🚃 Métro Notre-Dame-du-Mont
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ラッセラー、ラッセラー!

Pronounce: Lassèlaa, Lassèlaa! 

This cry repeated in unison ラッセラー、ラッセラー! by the costumed dancers (haneto 跳人), who march to the rhythm of the drummers (taiko 太鼓) and those huge, shimmering floats, sustains the momentum, brings the bodies together, and lifts the voices. 

It belongs to the very breath of the Nebuta Matsuri ねぶた祭, where clamor accompanies the movement of luminous figures in the night. 

Derived from the Tsugaru dialect 津軽弁, it is said to mean “Give, Give 出せ、出せ” to request candles, sake and other provisions from the chariot bearers (hikite 曳き手) of Nebuta.

The song and rhythm have preserved the trace of an ancient exhortation; an invitation to join in the enthusiasm of the Nebuta festival, uniting dancers and spectators in a common celebration.

Other hypotheses are also likely, but over time the literal meaning has faded, leaving only the collective pulse.

In these photographs, this rhythm becomes image. Shapes unfold, fragment and recompose themselves in the flow of gesture and light. 

The title, written in Japanese, retains an element of mystery for this exhibition, like a distant echo of the festival. 

It’s not so much a question of translating the oral expression as of feeling the vibration that emanates from it.

ラッセラー、ラッセラー thus evokes shared energy, the repetition that carries movement, the presence of a living memory transmitted through the voice. A simple exclamation turned cadenza, where tradition is transformed into sensitive, playful choreography.

About this photo story

These images were born in the heart of Nakano’s Nebuta Matsuri, in Tōkyō, in October 2023.

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is a major festival in the Tōhoku region, designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.  
As a sign of support for this region of northeastern Japan, which was devastated by the great earthquake of 2011, Nakano City Hall has organized its own festival since 2012 under the name “Nakano Festival to Support Tōhoku”, where the Nebuta Matsuri takes place every October.

THE NAKANO NEBUTA FESTIVAL OF AOMORI

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric Petr Web
Photographs from the heart of the Matsuri © Éric Petr, 2023
Nikon Df & Nikkor H85mm f1.8

青森ねぶた祭 | Aomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23

These images were created at the heart of the Nebuta Matsuri held in Nakano in October 2023.

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is a major festival in the Tōhoku region, designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

It is an incredible parade of costumed dancers (haneto 跳人), taiko 太鼓 players and huge floats, shimmering in color and lit up at night.

As a sign of support for this region of northeastern Japan, which was devastated by the terrible earthquake of 2011, Nakano Town Hall in Tōkyō has been organizing its own festival since 2012 under the name “Nakano Festival to Support Tōhoku”, where Aomori’s Nebuta Matsuri takes place in October every year.

“It is a wave that you feel deep inside your body. The drums beating with all their power, the crowd in effervescence, the colorful dances, sometimes jerky and sometimes delicate, the flute tunes that pierce this orderly din, everything is so energetic that the senses are sucked into this whirlwind of fervor. In the midst of this bubbling, it seems as if this visual and sonic material is melting together.
Letting myself be carried along by the current of this lively crowd, I try to capture, with my camera, this exaltation, this bubbling mass of individuals gathered for this marvelous festival. Here and there, with long breaths from my shutter, I record faces, hands, colors, dancers, percussionists in action, and all this visual material accumulates in successive layers on my sensor, like those of a painter on his canvas, to restore all the density and depth of the scene.

These eighteen photographs are excerpts from the sixty that tell the poetic story of Aomori’s Nebuta Matsuri.

You can enlarge the image by zooming[Ctrl] and [+]

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric PetrAomori Nebuta Matsuri 2o23 © Éric Petr