Liberty Belle(ville): From Statues to Street Art
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Today, Paris was a fixed grin of sunshine. I seized the opportunity to walk the length and breadth of the city without the firehose experience of yesterday's rainfall. My two main areas of focus: the Statue of Liberty (the midget replica, that is) and the Belleville neighborhood, which is the Brooklyn-circa-2005 of Paris.
The Eiffel Tower, viewed from Pont de Bir-Hakeim, a bridge connecting the 15th and 16th arrondissements. In the foreground is statue La France renaissante by Holger Wederkinch. Beware the illusion of juxtaposition... in reality, the Eiffel Tower and the Pont de Bir-Hakeim are about a 30-minute walk from each other. 75015 Paris. Lexia Snowe, 2020
Since 1889, this 38-foot (11-meter) replica of the Statue of Liberty has stood at the end of the Île aux Cygnes, where it is necessary to approach her backside first. So: tiny, and butt turned to the city. I believe this may be Paris's greatest in-joke on America. Allée des Cygnes, 75015 Paris Lexia Snowe, 2020
The Paris skyline, viewed from the Pont Mirabeau, a bridge connecting the 15th and 16th arrondissements. Squint to make out Midget Liberty in the center of shot. 75015 Paris. Lexia Snowe, 2020
Some thoughts here about Belleville, a neighborhood in the north of the city that is shared by four arrondissements. An "historically working-class neighborhood", that overused real-estate phrase that can now mean anything from "hip" to "a total ball ache for parking", Belleville today might be my favorite part of Paris. Its scruffy can-do energy is squeezed into narrow streets where the Muslim call to prayer, Chinese seafood stands, and some hipster with a ukele all tangle their demands for your attention. Another thing that wants very much for you to notice it? The street art. There is so much street art, in fact, that walking Belleville feels like walking around inside a giant high school locker.
The picture below captures the zany Belleville style of street art: a wheatpasted barrage of imagery, none of it explicitly coordinated and yet... there's some kind of haphazard sense there, as though over time artists have wordlessly coalesced around an overall theme for the space. The theme of this wall, for example, appears to be women.
A wall of Belleville street art. Rue des Envierges, 75020 Paris. Lexia Snowe, 2020
Street art on a supporting column of the Belvédère de Belleville, an open-air lookout spot in the Parc de Belleville. The anti-climb nails visible at top clearly did not work. 27 Rue Piat, 75020 Paris. Lexia Snowe, 2020
A note on the Belvédère de Belleville, a viewing paviliion at the top of Belleville Park that boasts some of the most sweeping views of Paris. Several of the columns of the Belvédère have a painting on them like the one below: a kid pulled head-first into the ceiling, or maybe it's the sky, or some kind of swirling overhead membrane. Treated with something like reverence by subsequent taggers, the paintings are done well -- they're the kind of street art for which that qualifying "street" feels unnecessary. For me, they boosted the limitless, anything-is-possible feeling that accompanies the panoramic views.
Losing your head, kid? My favorite artwork in the Belvédère de Belleville. 27 Rue Piat, 75020 Paris. Lexia Snowe, 2020
Head in the clouds, girl? Another artwork in the column series at the Belvédère de Belleville. 27 Rue Piat, 75020 Paris. Lexia Snowe, 2020
Gay pride umbrellas over the sidewalk outside the Caffe Vito, a pizza restaurant in the Marais. 12 Rue des Archives, 75004 Paris. Lexia Snowe, 2020