Meditate with C215 (born 1973)

Everyday objects don’t tell many stories, other than that of their immediate use. A mailbox, recognizable by its shape and its yellow color which serves as a beacon, is a good example. And, one night, the object enters History. This day in 2014, the urban artist C215 comes to paint on the faces of this small container, with his consummate stencil art, the faces of Senegalese riflemen. An innocuous object to talk about anonymous characters who nevertheless made History.

On this modern triptych, he paints the portrait of three young African soldiers enlisted by French colonial troops to come and fight in the trenches. The faces are closed or smiling, reproduced from old photographs. Military costumes are evoked, more than faithfully rendered. But the chéchia – this red beret of Tunisian origin, customary symbol of power – provides the key to identifying the riflemen. There are no visible weapons, but jets of color around the characters could evoke the violence of war scenes.

On the fourth side, the tone changes. A Chinese shadow character extends his hand, in a gesture of supplication or questioning. Because the work first wants to refresh our memory. “To its children, the grateful homeland”, expresses a short sentence on one side. An expression such as one can read on the thousands of memorials to the Great War, in every village in France. This final monument was missing to do justice to those who shed their blood on this land which was not theirs. “Through these faces,” says the Ile-de-France artist – whose real name is Christian Guémy – “I hope that passers-by confront their own humanity. »