The Drawing Festival in Arles recalls the origins of an ancient art accessible to everyone

Drawing is a common trait of humanity. From our prehistoric ancestors to our first childhood doodles, everyone has tried it. In Arles, a festival is honoring this practice by putting drawings in all forms on display in around ten exhibitions to admire until May 19th. This year the illustrator Tomi Engerer is in the spotlight.

Drawing, a bad art

There is an old world map on the table, a well-sharpened charcoal and lots of inspiration. This is how a series of portraits was created Lost in myselfby Argentine artist Sergio Aquindo. The pencil strokes were quickly added to the natural lines of the globe. Geographic boundaries have transformed into facial features, wrinkles and dark circles. “When you change country, you have to readjust. That’s what’s behind these drawings: we lose a vision of our previous history, but we gain a new one,” admits Sergio Aquindo.

In his constant search for identity, he says that drawing created him “Finding the way to inner peace”.

This is the first time that a festival This volume is dedicated to drawing, but it is on its way to becoming an unmissable event. To be discovered until the 19th May, in Arles.