The Resilient City: Marseille
I have been blessed with French friends and mentors for my entire adulthood, starting in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, 1962.
I think of my book, Marseille, Port to Port as my personal homage to French society and culture, especially to its globally diverse, post-colonial present. Perhaps more than any French City or town, Marseille demands, and in-turn rewards, my global perspective.
In 2014 I was awarded a six-month residence at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) of Aix Marseille Université.
From previous visits to the city, and discussions with colleagues, I had decided that my goals would be to find people and situations that spanned the city’s North-South divide, and also highlighted the powerful effects its natural environment has on its residents and its neighborhoods.
[TK e secteur Gèze sera largement modifié avec la couverture du cours d'eau des Aygalades et la construction de nouveaux accès au pôle d'échanges multimodal.]
Hiking up the abandoned industrial dump adjacent to La Visitation, Marseille 14ieme, 2014
Jean filming Bill “rapping” with local kids outside “Le Local,” La Visitation, Marseille 14ieme, 2014
Jean and boys from La Visitation rap with Gino at Radio Galere, Friche de Bele de Mai, 2014
The Marseille Flea Market
Claude-Joseph Vernet’s Interior of the Port of Marseille (1754) is a renowned oil painting depicting the bustling 18th-century Old Port of Marseille. Commissioned by Louis XV, it is part of his "Views of the Ports of France"
Brooklyn boys, Bill, Jean, Vince, 2014
