nan turpin photograph
Medieval Moderne, Paris
Bonjour. Glad you could make it. In these last days of one calendar and first days of the next, we’re considering the ways old and new might co-exist. We are looking for an image of peaceful coexistence with our own histories. Here’s a well-loved famous entry into the old medieval student quarter of Paris, sacred ground of sacred drunkenness and public bonfires of those who spoke too freely when they were sober. Noisy, itinerant, self-confessed lovers of life, unashamed, unabashed quaffers of all they could get, the Latin Quarter, its medieval building stock preserved, old stone, old timbers, fragrant coils of staircase, sans concierges, ground floor commerce, meat grilling, rats, key words of anachronism, beloved because bygone, world class zoo of things discarded, if you have to ask you can’t afford it upstairs, buy a slice of 6th floor walk-up here or buy a small country elsewhere. Zinc roofs, maids rooms, laundry strung across the smallest windows flapping in a good breeze so as to dry and keep the pigeons out all at the same time. This we teem in, flock to, cling to, this we love and this we hate, cobbles hurt our feet, slick with trash in a dousing rain, this we love and this we hate, past and present, it sells good, it smells like a raft of lamb grilling among the postcards and keychains. It’s a zoo. We can leave the gates unlocked and let our history live all around the town. Come back tomorrow. New Year’s Eve. We’ve got a party picture for your New Year’s Eve. It’s in another part of Paris.
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