Yann ARTHUS BERTRAND (b. 1946) "Je t'aime" Coeur de Voh in 1 - Lot 46

Yann ARTHUS BERTRAND (b. 1946) "Je t'aime" Coeur de Voh in 1990, New Caledonia, France (20°56'S - 164°39'E) Photographed: 1990, printed: July 2025 Printed on Mediajet Photo Art White 310gr baryta photographic paper, printed on EPSON P20000 printer with pigment inks. Mounted on Dibond. Titled by the photographer on the frame: "Je t'aime" 80 x 120 cm Work sold with certificate of authenticity. In 1990, Yann Arthus-Bertrand was flying over New Caledonia when the pilot said: "I want to show you something. Yann discovered the heart-shaped clearing formed by the Voh mangrove. "I was amazed. I knew the photo would be interesting, but I didn't realize it would become such a symbol, like a message of Love from the Earth. It became the emblem of my work. YAB Mangroves are half-terrestrial, half-aquatic forests that grow on muddy tropical soils exposed to alternating tides. Made up of a variety of halophytic plants (capable of living on salty soils), with a predominance of mangroves, it covers almost a quarter of tropical coasts and covers some 15 million hectares worldwide, half its original extent. This fragile environment is steadily retreating in the face of overexploitation of resources, agricultural and urban expansion, the development of shrimp farms and pollution. Yet mangroves remain essential to marine fauna and the balance of the coastline, as well as to the local economy. New Caledonia, a group of Pacific islands covering 18,575 km2, has 200 km2 of low (8-10 m high) but very dense mangrove, mainly on the west coast of Grande Terre, the largest island in the New Caledonian archipelago. Inland, where sea water only penetrates at high tide, vegetation sometimes gives way to bare, over-salted expanses known as tannes, such as near the town of Voh, where nature has created this stylized heart-shaped clearing known as the Coeur de Voh.