Two years ago, on 14 February 2021, the American artist Franck Shepard Fairey, also known as Obey, was restoring the fresco he had created in 2016 on the corner of Boulevard Auriol and Rue Nationale, which shows, on a blue, white and red background, the face of Marianne surrounded by the motto "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité". In fact, two months earlier, on 13 December 2020, the mural had been vandalised by an anonymous collective seeking to mark their opposition to the bills under discussion on security and separatism. The Republican motto was scratched out and Marianne's face was covered in red tears. In response to this incident, Obey recalled that in 2016 he had wanted to pay homage to the victims of the attacks of 13 November 2015 and said: "I love the French slogan. Those are all things that I think democratic societies value. The image, the poster, did not have any specific political affiliation". He added: "I actually side with people who oppose injustice, especially when it comes to human rights. I really believe in using my art not only to shed light on issues but to support people who do work on the ground". So he reinstated the motto of the French Republic, cleaned up Marianne's face and added a blue tear. Today, if you look closely, the tear is no more blue: two months ago, on 13 December 2022, someone anonymously came and repainted it in red, probably to remind us of 13 December 2020.
We suggest that you go and view this mural, which leaves no one indifferent, as well as the three other Parisian works by this Californian artist, mentioned in our post of 16 June 2022, which marked the 10th anniversary of his first mural in the context of the "Boulevard Paris 13" project. And of course to place them in the context of the Parisian murals presented in the "Today and Tomorrow" chapter of Looking Up Paris !
