Jesse Katz

Galleries: Pyrenees

"The terrain turned to forest, swirling with butterflies and bursting with thistle; then, as I climbed higher, it became stark and dry, an invitation to lizards and lichens. To think, sixty-odd years earlier, this trail represented survival, a future, the only way out." 

  • Aristide Maillol was in his seventies when he met Dina Vierny.
  • Dina Vierny was 15 when she started posing for Aristide Maillol.
  • Madame Vierny was eighty-nine when I met her.
  • The Banyuls train depot, last stop in France.
  • Heading south, for the mountains.
  • The first steps are paved.
  • The hills are terraced with sweet Grenache grapes.
  • The trail turns to granite.
  • Halfway up, the granite gives way to forest.
  • Traffickers have crisscrossed the Pyrenees for generations.
  • Nearing the top, a 2,000-foot climb.
  • Spain.
  • The border.
  • The descent to Port Bou.
  • Signs of Spanish life.
  • The end is near.
  • I see light.
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Jesse Katz, 2009. Site design © 2010-2023 Neon Sky Creative Media