I have just re-read “The Plague” by Albert Camus. Only a few meters’ from here Notre-Dame still lies… prostrate… I am reading a lot….Marvels and filth! And like everybody, for want of anything better, I endeavour to transmute this time of constraint into a beneficial moment.
I am an Art Dealer in Paintings. A passer on. I am neither an actor, nor in any case a protagonist. I see myself as one who reveals the evidence of links between civilizations. Not great, but not that bad!
However, to prevail, civilization must live on. And now, what about us? When certainty is no longer certain? This is without doubt the question which many of my colleagues are at present asking themselves, without expressly formulating it as such.
When the poorest of the homeless, those we tended not to see, not because they were further South but only further away, roam just below our windows. When even the stronger or those we believed such, die. When each day, a growing portion of us hide in confinement. When masks and gels have become objects of our most coveted desires. When in darkness, the blackness of souls glow, and in the light, suddenly, like a blinding evidence, the weight of the common good surges, such as – amongst others – that manifested by those who ill. What remains of our trade or what of it will prevail tomorrow?
Some are perturbed, others prostrated. Many feel lost….
There will be an « after », as there have been “befores” …
Before revolutions, before wars – as in the last World War, that from which we (I, myself) have fundamentally emerged. Before pandemics, even when they did not yet carry this name.
However, we shall have to focus, leave the shadow for the prey!
And delve back into reading the Fables of La Fontaine!
Franck Prazan
PS: To the 10,266 readers of this blog, to their family, relatives and friends, and to the rest of us all (including the 102,300 friends of the gallery on Instagram and 107,946 on Facebook!): “Be well!”