“They have pictures, we have memories.
Nahel we don't forget you!
".
The message attached to the forty photos spread along the wall proclaims it loud and clear, the fresco which covers the wall of the building located at 135, avenue Pablo-Picasso is there to honor the memory of Nahel.
This Friday evening this work of street art - 8 m long and 2.70 m wide - was officially inaugurated in the presence of around fifty residents of Nanterre, including the mayor Raphaël Adam (DVG) and the mother of the 17-year-old teenager, shot dead on June 27 by a police officer after refusing to comply.
The emotion was palpable when unveiling the fresco created by five young people who were friends of Nahel.
“The message we want to send is: never again!
".
It took these five young people three months to design this fresco.
“We came up with the idea while talking about it in a building lobby,” says Mohessine, 27 years old.
The idea was born and benefited from the support of the lessor Nanterre Coop'Habitat, who made the wall available and, with the municipality, covered the several thousand euros that the operation cost.
“It was essential and natural that the memory of Nahel be inscribed in the marble of Nanterre, engraved in the public space.
Also I would like to salute the approach in which this whole beautiful team has engaged, wishing to send messages through street art and culture, to counteract existing prejudices, to mark their pain in the face of the loss of a friend in such unfair conditions and, keeping in mind this drama of June 27, 2023, to think about tomorrow,” confirms Hassan Hmani, the president of Nanterre Coop’.
Accompanied by the Nanterre artist and graphic designer Delso and benefiting from the participation of the photographer and director Nicolas Sene, Mohessine, Ryan, Amine, Walid and Monsef painted the wall, chose the subjects for the photos and took the photos.
“We don’t have a diploma in the field and we don’t proclaim ourselves artists, but we did everything ourselves,” recalls Mohessine.
Slice of life photos of young people, emblematic towers or even Nahel's room, but also photos of white marches and the riots that followed, mixed with tweets from Kylian Mbappé or Omar Sy condemning the fatal shooting ...the fresco chronicles the daily lives of the neighborhood's residents, turned upside down overnight by the tragedy.
“Every photo means something!”
», insists Ryan, 23 years old.
“It is the testimony of a dramatic day, of a turning point.
The primary objective is not aesthetic, but to create debate,” explains Delso.
Nanterre, Friday February 9, 2024. Five young friends from Nahel created a street art fresco in tribute to the 17-year-old teenager killed by a police officer last June.
Because beyond paying tribute to the memory of the teenager, these young people intend to document a tragedy, the shock wave of which was felt well beyond their neighborhoods and which made Nanterre the center of media attention in France and even around the world.
By comparing the images of a peaceful daily life and those of the events following the death, these young people point out the gap, according to them, between the media treatment and the reality of their neighborhood.
“We want to get away from the controversies and show that there is plenty of talent in working-class neighborhoods, far from the clichés of thuggery conveyed by part of the media and the rising far right,” insists Ryan.
“Faced with certain horrors that we have heard or read, this work is already, in itself, an act restoring a little justice, as was the fresco created by other young Nanterrians, in the Vieux-Pont district, this summer,” adds Mayor Raphaël Adam.
But if they assure that they are not targeting anyone and do not want to provoke controversy, the young budding artists embrace the committed nature of their fresco, not hesitating the parallel with the extremely famous Spanish painter to whom their neighborhood owes its name.
“Art is a means of denouncing as Picasso did with his painting Guernica against the war,” insists Mohessine.
“In ten, fifteen or even twenty years, we hope that our work will contribute to preventing further police violence in Nanterre as in all other neighborhoods,” adds Ryan, who does not intend to stop there and plans with his friends to launch a non-profit association to integrate young people through sport.
A demand for justice reiterated by the new mayor, Raphaël Adam.
“The fresco that we are unveiling this evening is in fact more than an artistic work marking a duty of memory.
She is a poignant reminder of our collective responsibility to continue to demand justice for Nahel.
Justice for his mother.
Justice for his grandmother.
Justice for his friends.
But justice also for all the youth of Nanterre.
Justice for every resident of our city »