Nos forêts, nos vies

« If we do not take care, the tree will disappear and the end of the planet will come by drying without necessary cataclysm, by the fault of man. Do not laugh, those who have studied the question do not think without fear. »

These words do not date from the summer 2026 but go back to 1872, from the pen of George Sand which, alongside other artists, was one of the first to seek to raise awareness of the links that unite us to forests and their necessary preservation.

In autumn 2026, after a summer of forest fires across the country, new artists come together to explore the sense of wonder that only forests can inspire, and our collective responsibility to protect them from our excesses and follies.

Catherine Meurisse, the first comic book author to become a member of the Institut de France, will present her latest comic book, The Walden Clan, in which she returns, with humor and gentleness, about the life of Henry David Thoreau, nature lover, budding philosopher, who, by building a cabin on the edge of the peaceful pond of Walden, will try the experience of self-sufficiency, write a newspaper and observe the living.

She will dialogue with Geoffroy Delorme whose now well-known story, L’Homme-deer, has been adapted into a comic book to tell her story of seven years lived in the Norman forest in which he gradually gained the confidence of deer and thought of a daily life alongside them.

Jean-Denis Pendanx will accompany the meeting with live drawings while the cellist Olivia Gay, accompanied by his pianist and accustomed to playing in the forests, will transport us by music.

This meeting will thus mix narrative, observation of the living, drawing and music to alert on the fate of the forests and mobilize us to preserve what surrounds us, trees, animals, winds, beauty of the living.

With

Catherine Meurisse, illustrator and press designer

Geoffroy Delorme

Jean-Denis Pendanx, cartoonist

Olivia Gay, cellist, and his pianist

The meeting will be moderated by Camille Lafrance, director of the association Fake Off.