A fire from the inside

Photographer Romain Fabry braved the unbearable heat of this past summer to document the devastation that occurred in the southwest of France in this photo story for Submission Beauty.

PHOTOGRAPHY ROMAIN FABRY @romain_fabry
TEXT JESPER GUDBERGSEN @yessirjesper

This past August, France was caught in the middle of a most extreme heatwave, causing devastation in the southern forests, among many other environmental disasters. 2022 turned out to be the hottest European summer on record ever, leaving swaths of the continent in flames as a result. Daily headlines across the country - and entire continent - were crying in despair over the most unusual natural disasters bareling through the season. A cry for help from the planet, calling on us to realize where we are all headed in the all too near future. Will this be a call to action for the governments of Europe to finally step up to the plate and change their ways ? It’s yet for us all to see if this will have a lasting effect on the way the people in charge choose to alter the status quo and progress in an actual sustainable and forward thinking manner. This summer was an all too palpable and in-your-face result of a heating planet, forcing the facts of global warming to creep right up to the front door.

“This project intends to show the stunning contrast of this amazing place where the burning forest, saved by the hand of brave firefighters, meets the dune of Pilat. This wall of sand as a barrier to the worst, leaving us the calm of the horizon as an absolute.”

- Romain Fabry, photographer

“Earth is on fire. The forest, heart of humanity, dressing this land with its great green coat, usually so calm, becomes the blaze of our lives. For several weeks, the sun will not set anymore, carrying away in smoke the certainties of an old world. A world where our frantic race for progress has left behind what we hold most dear, our home. Infinite desires in a limited world. And finally realize what many had refused to see. When nature catches fire, it’s all humanity that goes up in flames.”

- Romain Fabry, photographer

@ROMAIN_FABRY