P38 The Little Prince

On the bottom of the Mediterranean, lies the wreckage of Antoine de Saint Exupery’s P38 aircraft. In the desert the Aéropostale pilot from the French airmail company lands to meet the Little Prince.

I offer the visitor the opportunity to travel in these two worlds: underwater and on the sand, by promoting the fusion of spaces and praising the Aéropostale heroes who gave their lives to connect lands beyond seas.

My purpose is to represent an underwater space in the centre of the garden, enveloping the visitor who will feel himself at the bottom of the sea where jellyfish and posidonia dance, as if he were going to meet Antoine de Saint Exupéry.

The scenery is surrounded by mirrors to refer to a feeling of immensity. By the continuity of the sand one enters the desert space as if the visitor were going to meet the Little Prince. Pieces of aircraft wreckage will be found on the sand. I selected plants looking like those in the desert and the bottom of the sea, cactus, grassula, ophilopogon. I want to create a clear link between these two spaces: the Aéropostale aircraft that lands on the desert sand and Saint Exupery’s P38 which crashes into the sea during a reconnaissance flight for the Provence landings in 1944.

Above all, this garden intends to be a tribute to the Aéropostale heroes who gave their life to connect lands beyond seas, men beyond continents, and to favour relations between men and support freedom.

In the centre of the garden, an interactive event is organised inviting the visitor to come to deposit in "the box of the Little Prince’s sheep", a letter on the theme "describe me your Essential", "we only see with our heart, the essential is invisible to our eyes". Mail exchanges will be routed by the "Raid Latécoère" Aéropostale association. They will be the link between children of France and Africa.