Down by the river: a meditation on mental health

Through these intimate, unguarded moments – children mid-leap, ripples catching the last light of day, trees bending towards the water, and horses galloping in the fading glow – Martinot began to piece together a new sense of self. She writes: ‘I photographed this young couple lying down on the grass, near a branch of the Aveyron river in the region of the Tarn-et-Garonne. They were lying down exactly like this when I asked if I could take their photo, and then told them to please not move. I loved the simple intimacy of the moment and the sweet, content gaze of the girl’