A remarkable photography exhibition titled "Brest from the Sky 1975-2025" is currently on display at the historic Capucins workshops, offering visitors a unique opportunity to witness five decades of dramatic urban transformation in this Breton port city. The show features twenty-one large panels that juxtapose aerial photographs taken by two different photographers across two centuries, creating compelling before-and-after comparisons. Robert Gernot captured the original images from airplanes during the late twentieth century, while Julien Creff recently revisited the same vantage points using modern drone technology. This innovative presentation allows viewers to observe how Brest has evolved from a post-war industrial center to a contemporary metropolitan area.
The exhibition's location in the Capucins workshops holds special significance, as these former monastery buildings have themselves been transformed into a vibrant cultural center. Visitors can examine side-by-side comparisons of key landmarks including the Cavale Blanche Hospital, Victor-Segalen University, and the Brest Bretagne Airport. Each panel tells a story of expansion, modernization, or complete redevelopment that reflects broader trends in French urban planning. The photographs reveal not just architectural changes but also shifts in transportation infrastructure, green space allocation, and commercial development patterns.
The technical contrast between the two photographers' methods highlights the revolutionary changes in aerial photography over fifty years. Gernot's earlier work required chartered flights, bulky equipment, and careful planning to capture images from fixed-wing aircraft circling overhead. Creff's contemporary approach utilizes nimble drones equipped with high-resolution cameras that can hover at precise coordinates and altitudes. This technological evolution enables exact replication of original perspectives, creating seamless comparisons that were previously impossible. The resulting images demonstrate how drone technology has democratized aerial photography while enhancing historical documentation capabilities.
Among the most striking comparisons featured in the exhibition is the Plateau des Capucins itself, showing its conversion from industrial zone to cultural district. The Moulin-Blanc area reveals dramatic harbor development, while the Liberté Square demonstrates changing public space design philosophies. The Technopole Brest Iroise technology park appears in one image as undeveloped land in 1992, then as a bustling innovation hub in 2025. These visual narratives help residents and visitors alike understand the scale and speed of urban change that might otherwise go unnoticed in daily life. The hospital comparisons particularly illustrate advances in medical infrastructure and campus design.
The exhibition serves as both artistic display and historical archive, preserving visual records of Brest's reconstruction and growth. City planners, historians, and longtime residents can study these images to understand development patterns and inform future decisions. For younger visitors born in the twenty-first century, the photographs provide a window into a city they never knew, fostering appreciation for Brest's resilience and adaptability. The show runs through January 4, 2026, offering free admission to ensure broad public access. Located at 25 rue de Pontaniou, the Capucins workshops welcome visitors daily to experience this visual time capsule.
By presenting these juxtapositions, the exhibition prompts important conversations about preservation, progress, and the character of French coastal cities. The images raise questions about what is gained and lost during periods of rapid development. They document the disappearance of certain architectural styles while celebrating the creation of new landmarks like the L'Iroise Bridge. Ultimately, "Brest from the Sky 1975-2025" demonstrates how photography can serve as both art form and civic record, capturing the evolving identity of a city that has continually reinvented itself throughout modern history.
