The writing on the wall. By Margot VEST & Louise VIGOUROUX

The close-up photo was taken in a little street called Rue de l’Arcade next to Ballainvilliers in Clermont-Ferrand. There is a white poster on which is drawn an orange pen. Under this poster we can see a piece of another poster, with strange black and white drawings. These posters have been stuck on an old, rusty, metal door. A corner of the topmost poster has been torn and the bottom has become unstuck. The orange pen is like a child’s drawing. There are cigarette ends on the paving stones.

The second photo was taken at one end of Rue de l’Arcade, a pokey alley that feels a little strange and even cut-throat… It is only about 30 meters long. It obviously gets its name from the arch holding up the old house built above it that overhangs half the street. There is a drainpipe on the left with torn pieces of paper on it. The trash cans are overflowing with boxes and yellow refuse bags. The walls have been damaged by time and the weather. There is a narrow pavement on the right. The houses at the far end on either side do not seem abandoned. Beyond the “tunnel”, we can see a wide road with a few parked cars. There’s a big, handsome, dark-stoned building with, in front, a blue lamppost and a small tree. A man is walking past.

The orange pen on the cryptic poster refers to the horrible attack that happened at the Charlie Hebdo office in January 2015 in Paris. The pen symbolizes freedom of expression. We have seen a lot of posters on this theme in our town (perhaps because someone from Clermont, visiting the Charlie Hebdo offices, was killed in the terrorist attack). The message for our times of this colorful picture was all the more powerful for being hidden in this sordid corner. For us, the street symbolized the ignorant past, the poster a beacon of hope emerging from the obscurity.

Our photos inspire two thoughts. The first: the walls of our towns are used for scrawling ideas and feelings, both trivial and important, and to display images that comment events in the world. And the second: current events influence the way we see our urban environment.