Liberty I picture your names. A folio to commemorate "Je suis Charlie".

The 4th work I presented was a folio of eight pages called « Liberty, I picture your names ». This is the biggest enterprise I undertook in photography and it takes its origin in the poem of Paul Eluard and its illustration by Fernand Leger in the 60s. It shows the complete basement of the statue of the Place de la République. The 21 panoramic bands present all the testimonies of the people. Each band corresponds to one strophe of the poem. The number of pages also reminds the numbers of illustrated pages by Leger. The background I illustrated with my "panoroïds" of foliage taken in Autumn 2015. Certain people have left flowers, drawings, poems,photos or candles. I leave my "panaroïds".

The job to build this folio was huge. I first needed to associate the photos using Photoshop to produce the merge and correct the circular lines. Then, I had to find a correct length for the bands. Each band is different in length like the verses of a poem which do not contain the same number of letters.  Once the panoramas were build I had to form the pages of the folio and select the two images that would illustrate the background.

Initially I intended to present the complete poem in one textile band like a « Kakemono » but the cost of it obliged to choose a more modest presentation as a folio to begin with.
I was not in Paris during the exhibition, but was present at the varnishing. Like always I had no comment about this work. The only comments I got were related to the poor presentation I had choosen for the 3 bands. Today the artist is confronted to a gap of culture in art from the public. It is no need to invest oneself too much in a message for the others, if you do something, you do it only for you. In my case it was a necessity to me to reply to the monstrousnesss of the terrorist acts with something out of the common. My response is similar to the actions of many people who to overcome their rage produced something to transform their pain or anger in something more positive in order to express that " they" had lost in their objective, and that our values are stronger.

I am certain that no one produced such a work. If you look at the messages deposited in the basement of the statue you will have the real meaning of liberty. Certain refer to the liberty of Love, other privilege the religion, and so on. Each contribution is an example of our public tolerance.  You might think that this is not special, but at the moment I write this text on 8th May, everything has disappeared. So this folio is history and memory now.

I produced two samples of the folio one was exhibited in the « Je suis Artist » show of the A.A.B. Gallery. The second has been given to an auction organized to support the victims of the November events. Today I have no news of the second sample. This folio will be presented in the other events. It is priced 150 €.

Commemorative exhibition to "Je suis Charlie" in the AAB gallery on January 2016.

 It was important for me to symbolically show my commitment with the spirit that came out from the « Je suis charlie » events. The artistic association I belong planned an exhibition to commemorate this spirit. Called « Je suis artist » (I am an Artist) it took place beginning January from the 8th to 17th. I also contributed to the organization of the show. Initially I thought I would present previous works realized in 2015, but the last events of the 13th November urged me to be more creative and present something completely new I had not done before.
So I decided to present 4 works. 3 panoramic bands based on street-art paintings  from locations directly involved in the dramatic events of November 2015 : a wall just beside the restaurant Cambodge based rue Aligre and fences installed around a bar located in the middle of place de la République.

As the walls and fences were quite long I could not use my « Traveling photo » technique. So I took several classical photos which were merged with Photoshop. Then in order to express my contribution I integrated my Panoroïds photos.

The generic title for these new panoramic photos was « Jean chante Paris» (John sings Paris- but there is a joke with the French verb "J'ENCHANTE" which means "I lay a spell on Paris") and each work was named after a song or poem celebrating Paris.

For me my photos are like writings and I consider that one of the missions of the artist is to « Sing his world around ». Along with the works we had to provide with few words as a commentary.  Mine was :

Etre artiste à Paris en 2015 s’est avéré difficile. Nous

représentons la liberté de création. Entre émotion

et information, notre contribution reste indispensable. Ma réponse

est une série de photos panoramiques intitulées « Jean chante Paris ».

Chaque photo est un chant du griot photographe que je suis. 

Being an artist in Paris in 2015 has been difficult. We represent creativity and freedom. Between emotion and information our contribution remains an obligation. My answer is a group of panoramic photos named « Jean chante Paris » (John sings Paris).  Each photo is a song from the photographic bard I am.

1) Paris sera toujours Paris. Paris will always be Paris.  (Music : Offenbach, French Cancan, variété, Bataclan..) Maurice  Chevalier, 20x90 cm

2) Paris j’ai deux Amours  (Paris I have two loves. (Paris historique et la photo) Baker, 20x90 cm

3) Feux (Lumière, flammes, bougies, fleurs, amour, mort, hommages) Aragon, 20x90 cm

Paris sera toujours Paris panoramic features a wall paintiong from the Place de la République that became emblamatic.It reproduces the Coat of Arms and Motto  of the city «  Fluctuat nec mergitur », a Latin phrase meaning "Tossed but not sunk".

"Paris sera toujours Paris" panoramic features a street-wall painting from the Place de la République that became emblematic.  To it I have added special a collection of Panoroïds representing the Eiffel Tower dancing specially lighted for the commemoration during two weeks.

Epilogue for « My Charlie’s Days » project.

It is important when an initiative is taken to follow it completely before investing oneself in new projects.  So being very « proud » of me « Charlie’s Days » collection of photos I worked to promote them by professionals and the public.  I produced a flyer to look for an editor and present some photos from the Saturday’s  March to the public in my booth of the « Marché de la Création » of La Bastille in June and July. Of course, none of these initiatives were successful. 

Image taken in October 2015 from what was the Charlie's memorial site in Paris. It has become completely normal as if nothing had happened.

The number of the French editors interested in photography and this thematic is reduced and I do not belong to the circles that would help to find the best contacts. Secondly, I expected that the impact of the January events would produce a need to share and show the attachment to certain values.

 In fact, this was a wrong thinking the event being a national and dramatic event the French public will not support any commercial activity related to the event. It is a position that French consider as a question of principle, in reality they are completely upset with their money and want everything for free in such cases, when they look at the images on TV or in the press they forget that journalists, reporters and photographers are paid to produce them. 

 Only remaining memorial site from the Charlie's events remaining in October 2015 located Boulevard Richard Lenoir .

Why should an independent photographer be paid for his work, it is such a silly question? It is a French character to be completely unable to associate principles and reality, this contradictory position can be found in many fields. So for photos like mine, they expect them to be given for free to the Charlie Hebdo newspaper or any other non profitable initiative. Of course the payment for the printing of the photos is not to be taken into consideration, especially when the images are offered at a rate of 5 and 15 € each.

Much too expensive to support an artist and his action to support freedom. So to anyone who thought I might have earned any money with this work just make your calculation: I spend a lot of time to produce the project, I invested about 600€ to retouch some photos and 150€ for the printing. I sold one for 5 € to a Canadian woman, three photos for 45 € to a private Italian customer living in Paris.  Thank you for their support and no comment!

It  has been a new experience for a certain photographer by accident that  I know. For sure if I do not become a photographer, I already am a philosopher!