Que le feu soit tendre, que la mer soit bonne is a journey across the Mediterranean that explores the fractures of the contemporary Western world. Facing the remnants of an ancient imaginary, the photographers search for the conditions of a new narrative.

The first monograph by Elsa Martinez and Marie Hervé, the project is the culmination of a long creative process shaped by travel, observation and reflection across the territories of the South. From Sicily to Greece, and from the South of France to the shores of Palestine, it unfolds an imaginary cartography of erosion: places where ancient myths are coming apart and collective memories are faltering.

The book was conceived as a work in its own right, a space where photographs, texts and printed materials respond to one another without hierarchy. At its heart is a text by Théo Casciani, a mythological fable that doesn't try to explain the images but draws on them to tell a futuristic, poetic story. More than a collection of images, the book offers an immersion in an uncertain landscape, shot through with light, ruin and silence.

20.5 × 29 cm
178 pages
Photographs: Elsa Martinez & Marie Hervé
Editorial direction: Chloé Bédoc
Graphic design: Vanessa Goetz & Guillaume Allard, Atelier Pentagon
Text: Théo Casciani
Translation: Gabriel Franjou
ISBN: 978-2-493545-11-4
Publication date: 8 July 2026