The French village of Verlhac-Tescou, in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, has put up panels showing the faces of its roughly 600 residents, arranged as mosaics that recreate views of the village itself. The panels stand in front of the salle des fetes, the village hall used for community events.
The images depict the town centre and the Vinouze chapel, which sits on hillsides about three kilometres away. A first panel went up in 2010, and a second followed in 2023.
An idea born from a radio report
Catherine Ducos, treasurer of the local association Hier Aujourd'hui et Demain (HIAUDE), said the 2010 project began as a symbolic event to mark the centenary of the village's public school. She said a radio report gave her the idea, after she heard about a woman in the Deux-Sevres department who had photographed her own village's residents to build a photo mosaic. Ducos said she contacted the woman, who explained how the process worked, and that the municipal council liked the idea enough to go ahead with it.
HIAUDE was formally founded in 2012 by a small group devoted to preserving local heritage and village footpaths, though its first mosaic project predated the association's official creation.
Door-to-door photography
Ducos said that after an initial letter was dropped in residents' mailboxes, a handful of volunteers went door to door across the village to meet people and take their pictures.
She said residents were asked to sign a waiver of image rights solely for use in the photo mosaic, with no use of the portraits online or on social media. According to Ducos, there were almost no refusals, and out of roughly 500 residents at the time, the group took 492 photographs. She said that to render the background view of the village square using specialist software, the number of photos had to be multiplied by seven to reach the pixel count needed, meaning most residents appear several times in the final image. The panels, measuring three metres by 1.5 metres, were built by a company in Saint-Nauphary.
A meeting point at the car park
Ducos said the car park by the village hall quickly became a gathering spot, with residents trying to spot themselves, friends and neighbours in the mosaic. The project's success meant it was meant to be repeated in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the follow-up. The second mosaic did not appear until 2023.
A second theme: the Vinouze chapel
HIAUDE, which is also involved in restoring the Vinouze chapel, chose the building as the theme for its second mosaic. The chapel holds a European label recognising its rammed-earth architecture.
Guy Roumagnac, the association's president, said the project brought the whole village together, with HIAUDE working alongside other local associations, including groups for older residents, a gymnastics club and the Foyer community centre, to share out the work. He said that over 13 years the village's population grew from around 500 to 600 residents, with births, deaths and people moving away, but that 20 to 25 percent of current residents are newcomers.
According to the report, the next photo session should be scheduled for 2030.
