Solitude, monument prothétique

Abstract May 10, 2007, the city of Bagneux inaugurates a sculpture commemorating the abolition of slavery and the fights for human emancipation. Sculpted by the artist Nicolas Alquin, this tripartite monument, celebrates Solitude, legendary figure of the resistance in Guadeloupe. If the municipality hesitates on the place which should host the sculpture, it finally chooses to erect it close to the Pierre Plate neighborhood. The location is strategic for the town hall, which wants to thwart socio-political and multi-ethnic tensions between Black, Arab and Jewish communities. It is indeed this low-cost housing complex which made the front page of the national and international news in 2006. One remembers the “gang des barbares” who kidnapped and tortured Ilan Halimi, a twenty-three year old Jew. This antisemitic hate crime shocked French society who pressed for political mobilization. With this monument and this location, I argue that a despecification effect occurs. Through borrowed memories and prosthetic associations, the memory of Ilan joins that of Solitude, both united and defined as laïc martyrs. Renewed, the sculpture became, by transgression of the temporal equilibrium, a substitute medium for different contemporary ethnic communities who are also victims of violence.