In images, in picturesThe American photographer has found something of the spirit of Harlem, where he grew up, in the Parisian district of Barbès-Rochechouart. Images, smells, energy, which link him to the history of the African diaspora. For “M”, he mixes photos of Paris and New York to celebrate a new bloom of black cultures.
I remember the first time I walked in the Barbès-Rochechouart district in Paris. It was in September 2019. I immediately thought of the 116e Street in Harlem. Some guys started calling me: “Dude, you’re from New York, it shows. ” It was like I was wearing some sort of invisible T-shirt that said where I was from and only they could see.
I immediately felt at home, recognized for who I was without having to say a word. In those moments, I began to feel a deep connection with the other peoples of the African diaspora. Cameroonians, Congolese, Malians, all of us, together… The smell of spices brought me back to Harlem in an instant, as did the sight of black families. I told myself that I was in an African neighborhood, a place full of blacks, beautifully black.
In Barbès-Rochechouart, gentrification has not yet fully won. Being a victim of gentrification myself, I know the feeling of being torn from home. In Harlem, landowners set their own buildings on fire to collect insurance money and build glittering skyscrapers instead. It would be hard for me to explain the pain of seeing a penthouse being built on the top floor of the building where we grew up, of receiving ads on Instagram that feature your old six bedroom family apartment turned into studios for $ 4 million each.
“I can’t say that everything has been fun here. I found the same injustices there as in the United States. There is still a lot of hostility in the air, because of the legacy left by colonial history. “
Paris is a place where many Harlem artists have found refuge. Josephine Baker, painters Aaron Douglas and William Henry Johnson, sculptor Augusta Savage, many who embodied the black creativity of the 1920s and its acceptance by society. What has been called the Harlem Renaissance laid the groundwork for the future civil rights movement before it was shattered by the Great Depression.
In comparison, I don’t see anything more depressing than Covid-19, while at the same time we are witnessing a sort of return of black culture and arts. Sometimes in Paris, I find myself walking in the footsteps of some black intellectuals and creative minds of yesterday. They guide me on my own journey. However, I cannot say that everything has been a piece of cake here. I found the same injustices there as in the United States. There is still a lot of hostility in the air, due to the legacy left by colonial history that has affected black culture for centuries.
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