The context

The Miremer hill, located above the town of La Garde-Freinet in the heart of the Maures montains and topped by a church, offers an exceptional view over the fires that destroyed 200 hectares of forest during the summer of 2003. Only the very summit of the hill and its church were spared. 

The commission

Landscaping and artistic renovation of a hill ravaged by a forest fire.

The project is based on the planting of more than 80 different species of trees, organized in clumps of the same species. The new layout not only opens views onto the surrounding landscape, but also brings the viewer's attention to his or her immediate environment. Created for and with the close collaboration of the town's inhabitants, Sightlines aimed to integrate environmental, health and cultural concerns.

Joël Auxenfans

Joël Auxenfans was born in 1962 and lives and works in Montrouge. Since 1988, he has produced a vast and varied body of work : landscape projects, sculpture, painting, set design and tapestry, with which he questions our relationship with space, from both a perceptive and behavioral point of view. Auxenfans places man and his relationship to nature at the very heart of his concerns and includes cultural, historical and symbolical approaches to landscape in all of his work.