For this assignment, we were required to research one aspect of the Romainville area and create a response based on this one aspect. After watching a lot of videos and reading a lot about the Romainville area, one thing that was repeated over and over again was the diversity of the place. Romainville is a very heterogeneous and culturally diverse area. The people who make up Romainville come from all different backgrounds: African, Middle-Eastern, Asian…etc.
In the “C’est pas sorcier” documentary, a woman (Fatema) was interviewed about the differences of people in the banlieues. Her response was very interesting to me: “It always feels like you’re traveling, there are many people everywhere, Indians, Malians, Moroccans”. And when she was asked about how native French people integrate with that area, her response was “It’s pretty funny because we often feel like we’re not in France and it’s them who integrates with our area”. It’s almost like people from different countries. and cultures came to France and created their little world in it and the French became the ones that don’t fit or don’t have a place there.
So I decided to make a print that would illustrate this very interesting aspect of the banlieues in France. It would ideally be printed on a Riso printer, but this not being possible now, I made it using Riso colors and aesthetics because I wanted to create something that would be bright and colorful that refelcts the street art in Romainville.
This piece represents different cultures(puzzle pieces) coming together and mixing to create this world of their own on a French land (white). It’s not obvious here but the borders of the piece are white. The white represents the French land and the missing piece in the middle represents the French people who do not fit with the other people of the area.
Another aspect of Romainville that I also found very interesting is how tangible the city is. The city’s history and its upcoming plans are very different. Romainville is always changing and on the website of people’s giving reviews of the place, onepointed out how there’s always construction going on and things changing. It has never been in a constant state like many arrondissements in Paris. Thus, this print could also communicate this matter with the white space referring to the fact that the City is never complete and there’s always a space for something to be added.
PROCESS
I first changed color settings to RGB colors, added grain, changed the appearance, and edited a little bit until it looked like a Riso print. I drew on top of a rounded puzzle and added only two colors like in a Riso printer. I also added a gradient color background.
INSPIRATIONS
RISOGRAPH AESTETHICS
YONIL
