Paris - May 18-20, 2002 ----> See also Dunkerque
Flee market Porte de ClignancourtFlea
markets are my beloved places of photo chase. I like to look at old things,
albeit I’m usually not buying them. I don’t have any home to store them, but just
the memories of mine and of my hard drive. You can take a look at my trophies
– the old children shoes, a doll in a basket, a book cover, an ancient porno
poster etc. Even
much more I like to watch the people in flee markets. They are a special
kind, not the same as these who go shopping in malls or staring at the chic
staff through the showcases. I’m not ready to classify them in any certain
way, but I feel at home among them. I wish a good luck to a girl who sells
knitted hats. I’m glad for a woman who bought an African drum. And I hope the
others will also find something to please them. |
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Boulevard Barbes – African quarterFive years ago when I came to Paris the firs time, my friend Nadia who rented a tiny flat near Monmartre took me to walk in an African quarter. Thus it was my first and probably the most surprising impression of Paris. I was amazed by the colorful dresses of local matrons and the dignity they walk with through the neighborhood, handling few children and carrying a youngest babies on their backs. I stared at counters pilled with exotic vegetables and fruits, which I don’t know how to cook and how to eat. I was glad to come there again this time together with my friend Anna. |
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Street life
The
most of Paris I like its non-parade life. Back streets away from tourist
itineraries. The way people suck their coffee in small bars and the grace
they slip through crowded streets. May be the streets of this city are so
lively because many flats in the old houses are to narrow that people prefer
to spend more time outside, but there should be something else… |
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Hospitality
Paris is the city where everyone can find his
place and feel at home, and even foreigners can offer their hospitality to
each other or even to the local people. I stayed at my friend Anna Kotomina who
came to Paris for two months upon the invitation of the Denis Diderot
Foundation and lived in a flat of her friend who left on a tour. We met the
Israeli painter Eliahu Dallal who traveled around Europe visiting his friends
and negotiating his future exhibitions. He has a great talent of
communication, and he was a host of our evening sittings in cafes, where we
invited other nice people – my Paris friend journalist and artist Joelle Naim,
Don - a wig seller from Kansas living in Switzerland, Stephan – a French telecommunication
engineer who just returned from London. We drank coffee and wine, eat goat
cheese and mussels, chatted about everything and had a lot of fun together.
Hi guys, thanks to all of you, and hope to see you again! |
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