{"id":137,"date":"2017-03-19T18:49:54","date_gmt":"2017-03-19T22:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/?p=137"},"modified":"2017-04-05T12:30:11","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T16:30:11","slug":"the-sacred-and-the-profane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/2017\/03\/19\/the-sacred-and-the-profane\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sacred and the Profane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enter the Basilica of Saint-Denis, located in the Paris suburb of the same name. The cathedral was constructed to honor the first Bishop of Paris, who died a martyr\u2019s death in 250 AD. It serves as a final resting place for much of French royalty. Walk past the rose windows and cross-ribbed vaults that bathe the cathedral in weak afternoon light. Step down the stone stairs into the basilica crypt, past the recumbent royalty buried in the basilica\u2019s vast tombs, to find contemporary photographs of the basilica\u2019s new \u201cqueens of France.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On prints affixed to plexiglass shaped to match the curved cathedral windows, six color photographs show women draped in ivory sheets. These women lay in repose; their hands open in their laps, their stares fixed heavenward. Many of the women are young, some bedecked in jewels and gleaming red nail polish, some unadorned, the fabric folds echoing the draped shape of a hijab.<\/span><\/p>\n

These modern Madonnas are the work of the artist Aril\u00e9s de Tizi. His art exhibition, called\u00a0<\/span>Queens\u00a0of France<\/span><\/i>, is part of his cycle of exhibitions on \u201cthe mothers of exile,\u201d meant to link the two emblematic locations within the neighborhood of Saint-Denis: the basilica, and the open-air market hall of Saint-Denis, located just a few minutes away from the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

The church is a refuge from the frenzy of the market, a meeting space of languages and predominantly North African immigrant communities of the neighborhood. De Tizi attempts to link the two spaces through portraiture. The six women in his exhibition are women from the neighborhood of Saint-Denis. Though photographed to resemble the Virgin Mary, the\u00a0new queens in de Tizi\u2019s portraits are immigrants and exiles, some here in France illegally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like much of his work, this exhibit aims to link the sacred and the profane, uniting these two spaces of Saint-Denis by representing figures from the market hall in lavish religious iconography. The central figure, \u201cAma,\u201d is the grandmother of de Tizi. Her portrait is positioned at the center of the six, the only woman who wears an actual dress instead of an elaborately folded white shroud.<\/span><\/p>\n

On a wall behind the portraits, a video plays on loop. The video features the women of the exhibition as they share their stories of war, religion, and the memories of the countries they had to leave.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI came to France because I had to work,\u201d says one of the women whose likeness is rendered in the installation. \u201cI was only twenty years old. It feels like they stole my youth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do everything I can to be a good citizen,\u201d says another. \u201cYou can\u2019t turn your back on this country that gave us a chance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For those who now find their likenesses resting in the basilica, many did not feel as if they could have\u00a0entered the basilica and crossed this cultural threshold. The church is open to all who can pay, but French culture can feel inaccessible to those who do not share its history.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would never have thought I would be visiting Saint-Denis,\u201d one of the women says. \u201cI\u2019ve always had an image of a mosque, a basilica as a closed space. The Basilica is a place of peace; I feel my spirit has a certain rest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enter the Basilica of Saint-Denis, located in the Paris suburb of the same name. The cathedral was constructed to honor the first Bishop of Paris, who died a martyr\u2019s death in 250 AD. It serves as a final resting place for much of French royalty. Walk past the rose windows and cross-ribbed vaults that bathe … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Sacred and the Profane”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":274,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/274"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":821,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}