Everything flows.
This publication invites readers on a poetic aquatic journey, blending literature, visual arts, and imagination around the many forms of water. Created for the cultural event Lecture par Nature (Metropole Aix-Marseille Provence and Conseil départemental des Bouches-du-Rhône), the 2025 edition explored the theme of “Hydrofolies”.
This project was coordinated by the Agence régionale du livre Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur and conceived by the DADA team, in collaboration with Anouk Delabroy-Allard (texts), Marta Basak (graphic design and illustrations), and Bertrand Sallé (illustrations).
Concept and structure
Panta Rhei ("everything flows") is a 44-page artistic and interactive booklet designed for young audiences, yet crafted with visual sophistication. It oscillates between a playful exercise book and a narrative exploration, diving into the fluidity of water in all its states: rain, sea, snowstorms, rivers, and more. The publication combines: literary references (Francis Ponge, Homer, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Colette and many others). Musical inspirations (Pomme, Anne Sylvestre), scientific and historical contexts (Morse code at sea, women and the ocean), poetic and visual games around aquatic onomatopoeias.
Artistic direction
The booklet unfolds in two distinct visual tones:
A creative exercise section, dominated by cobalt blue hues (Pantone Reflex Blue), with soft collages and textural backgrounds evoking different states of water. A narrative section, telling the colorful adventure of a young girl crossing various watery landscapes — brought to life through the vibrant collages of Bertrand Sallé and the candid presence of a real child invited to participate in the project.
Typography choices reinforce this duality: handwritten titles add spontaneity, while the Omnes font (variable, rounded, and friendly) ensures clarity and warmth for young readers.
Portraits of commandant Cousteau (left) and Kenneth White (right)
A project at the crossroads of art and exploration, where words, colors, and imagination flow together like water itself.
