Pre-orders, release on July 8, 2026

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

The first monograph by Elsa Martinez and Marie Hervé, this project is the culmination of a long creative process, nourished by travels, observations, and reflections carried out in the territories of the South. From Sicily to Greece, from the south of France to the shores of Palestine, it deploys an imaginary cartography of decay, where ancient myths unravel and collective memories waver.

This book was conceived as a work in its own right, a space where photographs, texts, and printed materials respond to each other without hierarchy. At the heart of the book is a text by Théo Casciani: a mythological fable that does not seek to explain the images, but relies on them to unfold a futuristic and poetic narrative. More than a simple collection of images, the book offers an immersion in an uncertain landscape, traversed by light, ruin, and silence.

This project is built as a living archive, a reflection on the layers that compose us and the narratives that shape our understanding of the world.

Photographs: Elsa Martinez & Marie Hervé
Editorial Direction: Chloé Bédoc
Graphic Design: Vanessa Goetz & Guillaume Allard, Atelier Pentagon
Text: Théo Casciani
Translation: Gabriel Franjou

20.5 x 29 cm
178 pages
French / English
ISBN: 978-2-493545-11-4
Publication date: July 8, 2026

Limited edition: 19.5 x 28 cm

30 special editions accompany the book. These risograph prints were designed to be manipulated: by folding them, the image takes the form of a pebble, and the photograph becomes a true 3D object.