"It's a very beautiful bust, except that she did not have a stone look," laughs Pierre-François Veil, to hide his feelings.
This Sunday morning, with the mayor (PS), Luc Carvounas, he unveiled a bust of his mother, Simone Veil, at the foot of the Alfortville media library, renamed after the former Minister of Health, during a ceremony marked by respect.
“It's a place of knowledge, magnificent.
My mother would have liked that, adds her son.
There was a lot of emotion.
»A visibly shared emotion.
“I grew up with her, with her fights,” explains the city councilor.
It represents resistance and resilience.
"
The chosen one simply asked the son of Simone Veil if he accepted that we give the name of his mother to this cultural place after a meeting in a restaurant in the capital.
“We were both friends with the boss who introduced us.
I told him about the project, says Luc Carvounas.
He said to me:
For you, it is twice yes!
"
A 35 kg bust placed on a 600 kg stone
The rest is ongoing with a first inauguration postponed due to the pandemic.
The choice of the painter and sculptor, Céline Normant, was also crucial.
She left nothing to chance to create this 35 kg bust, placed on a 600 kg natural stone.
At the very least, a little over four months of work.
“I found a balance with the plinth, a broken stone to symbolize its past, then we find its large collar to give it a solid appearance and, finally, the gaze carried upwards, to rise, dissects t -she.
It was very moving doing this job.
"
This work thus traces the life of the former deportee from the death camps who, once back in France, fought to pass the law decriminalizing the use of voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in 1974, or still her fight for Europe, as an MEP.
The media library, built in 2007-2008, is part of the cultural center which, in addition to this space of 2,500 square meters, also houses a meeting room with 250 seats, reserved in particular for associations of the municipality, and a theater hall with 405 seats. .
