Madame Labbé - a story

My project is a short story about Madame Labbé with accompanying images. It was an interesting process, where in the beginning I didn't really know how to organize the work, or what the content would be. Should it be just factual? Should I write down my own thoughts? Make up something completely new?

One day I was taken to the retirement home (in Salies-de-Béarn) where she was sitting by the window in her room listening to the radio. She gave me a warm welcoming and radiated happy and positive energy. But afterwards, when I listened to more interviews of her with Elke, one of the owners, I realized that she had fallen into deep depression many times in life. Among other things, she talked about not knowing how to live or not having any value.

Madame Labbé lived at Chateau d'Orion, and later sold it to the Premauers in 2003. She is an important figure of the house, both because she became close with Elke and Tobi, but also because of her amazing memory, serving as a window to history. With her help, the people who lived in the house came back to life.

This angle, along with a simple summary of her life and an emphasis on her mental health, became the core of my project.

Annabella Mathae