David Stanley

IN MEMORIAM STEVE (où est la justice?)

Montage: photograph and poster

Nantes 24 August 19: I see French police fire teargas and water cannon at demonstrators protesting alleged police brutality involving the unexplained drowning, in June in the Loire, of music festival-goer Steve Caniço.

Next day visiting the Place Royale, where statues wore posters and mourning arm bands made from black bin liners, I took this photograph, later finding crumpled on the floor of a nearby cafe the poster. Back home I created the montage in memory of events and a life lost.

A significant inland port on a tidal waterway Nantes shares many historic and cultural characteristics with Southampton, from early explorations in the New World to an annual arts festival (the statues in the Place Royale were part of the 2019 festival).