An artist, a language
Occitan is an endangered language traditionally spoken in southern France, the alpine valleys of Piemont and Liguria in northern Italy, the Guardia Piemontese in southern Italy, the Val d’Aran in Catalonia (Spain), and Monaco. Throughout its history, Occitan has known different names, notably Provençal, Limousin, Gascon, Langue d’oc. More common today is Occitan. Occitan was a major language in the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, the songs and poetry of Occitan troubadours and trobairitz were successful throughout Europe. Occitan culture however went into brutal decline in the early 13th century when the Albigensian Crusade, called by pope Innocent III in Rome and the king of France in Paris, invaded, pillaged and subjugated Occitan-speaking lands.
In 1539, the king of France ordains that French become the language of all legal deeds -at a time when most people in the French kingdom do not speak French. Laws ratified in the 1880s forbid the use of languages other than French in the school system. Despite far-reaching linguicidal policies, Occitan remains widely spoken until the first half of the 20th. Rural exodus, the two world wars, and the disinterest or hostility of the French state for its other languages have accelerated the decline of Occitan since the second half of the 20th century. UNESCO is now listing it as an endangered language. Today, medieval Occitan poetry continues to be read in translation, but there is no longer any native speaker of the language in France.
Jaumes Privat is a poet and artist who lives in the south of France. Early in his career, he chose to write in Occitan because it allows him to “invent himself by inventing” and open a “field of possibilities [that is] less marked than French.” In Occitan, he says, “the absurd, the erasure [are] present at every step, in every word.” This choice has allowed him to position himself on a social and creative margin. Privat does not dissociate literature from art and creates both in a same gesture. Over time, he “moved from assemblages of wood painted in primary, bright colours, to weaving raw, ‘monochrome’ plants and branches, and later to works on paper in black and white, sometimes with a few attempts at colour which nevertheless remain marginal.” Writing, he says, is “the foundation.” (Interview, Jaumes Privat and Catherine Parayre, 2024)
He started writing poetry in 1968 – the year of the students’ revolt in France and other countries. His first exhibition of paintings and drawings dates back to 1982. His texts are published in different journals and in stand-alone publications. He is also a musician and a performer, most recently in Fall 2024 at the NEWJazz Meeting festival in Germany. He produces both small works, notably artist books, and sculptural objects thematizing writing and cultural memory.