POSTCARDS IN PARIS - MAKING FILM

Paris, May 20-31 2025

Last week in Paris we were joined by Tony Gammidge @animatedtales who came to finish work on an Art Refuge film project. This had started last year when a man who we see regularly at the CEDRE curated an impromptu exhibition from our postcard archive, and explained his choices in an extraordinary speech which was recorded by Tony. Last week was the occasion to show him the footage, which, one year on, was a very moving moment for us all.

We had also realised that showing the original film in public might be problematic, as many of the postcards were under copyright. We therefore came to the solution of recreating by hand these particular postcards. Over the last few months many people round The Community Table, including our trainees and the wider Art Refuge team (thank you @thomasetheridgeart!) have produced beautiful versions of the cards and made the exhibition even more poignant and meaningful.

The next day at La Semeuse we set up a reconstruction with these new cards. Our regular visitor oversaw this new incarnation of his original exhibition and many people at the Semeuse engaged in it through discussion and choosing their own personal favourite. He also brought along a friend, and after admiring the new postcards together, we were all joined in another viewing of the footage by staff from the Semeuse and a little boy from across the road. It was lovely to see the project gradually opening up and the waves of recognition and connection between different people which followed.

The day ended with a moment of joint poetry stemming from one of the cards : “at the end of the river/ a horizon/ a landscape/ I know this country/ the clouds/ no sun but light/ he is crossing the river on a little boat/ with bags of fish...” leading to a conversation about how to cook freshly caught fish with manioc and plantain.

Words by Kate France, Naomi Press, Pascale Marie & Tony Gammidge.