A RAY OF LIGHT THROUGH DARK CLOUDS

Paris, France - September 2024

Art Refuge has started back in Paris for this season in our two regular settings after the summer break during the Olympic Games that temporarily dislocated or disrupted the already precarious day to day existence for many of the people with whom we work. The return to life in Paris has clearly been difficult and stressful, with increased numbers of people living on the streets in weather conditions that have been unseasonably tough; tensions were high and people were hungry and exhausted.

This week in the CEDRE a new place for the table in a calmer space proved to be an interesting development. We noticed how people made a beeline for the table and settled immediately into intense and autonomous activity: using the resources for individual or group exploration, playing with scale and ways of looking and switching between media. The presence of a slide projector and some little musical boxes opened the way to working with light and sound. Letters were printed onto slides, a dolphin swam through the Black Sea and a plasticine figure based on a Jeremy Deller image from our postcard collection was photographed against a projected sea.

In La Semeuse urban garden a small group of men, women and children continued the surprisingly enjoyable task of making versions of postcards from our collection, using plasticine, collage and slides as well as traditional art materials. As the rain poured down outside, a musical box playing “Singing in the rain” chimed out as if on a loop. As our afternoon together drew to a close we gradually assembled the afternoon’s postcard creations onto the stand and reflected on the diverse approaches and media that people had chosen to create their images. We packed our trolleys and set out together back into the rain.

Words by Kate France & Naomi Press.