Thursday, 17 December 2015 By Chant Wagner

Recueillement - Meditation - 130 Street Photographies after the Paris Attacks {Paris Street Photo}

Recueillement - Meditation - 16/130 © 2015 CHANT WAGNER

130 Street Photographies after the Paris Attacks - 130 photographies de rue, après les attentats de Paris - In Memoriam

Less than 48 hours after the Paris Attacks of November 13, 2015 - and even the next day - Parisians were assembling near the multiple massacre sites to pay their respects to the victims by lighting candles...

Organized terrorists were on the loose, their full numbers were unknown, but the city dwellers are so used fundamentally to Paris being a secure city that old habits kicked in. Also, it was important not to give in to fear.

This spot in particular has now completely gone back to normal. It's a quiet passage way on a sidewalk near the Bataclan. No signs are left of the earlier makeshift shrines where so many people came to visit.

In this picture, there is a moment of spiritual communion based on the intensity of thoughts of strangers linked by the common destiny of living in a city, speaking the same language, loving many of the same everyday life things valued by French culture, believing in the values of humanism, in religious pluralism - even in atheism and deism - and now sharing a common heartbreak, which they need to express religiously.

This photo is part of a series capturing the atmosphere of Paris after 11/13 in 130 pictures, one each day for each of the 130 Paris Attack victims.

Previously:

Saving Memorial Art from the Rain - Sauver un art de la mémoire de la pluie - 15/130

A Month Later - Un mois plus tard - 14/130

December 13, 2015 - Le 13 décembre 2015 - 13/130

Quentin Mourier, 29 ans - Quentin Mourier - 29 years old - 12/130

I Love You - M - Je t'aime, M - 11/130

Game Over: Culture Shock - Fin de partie : le choc culturel - 10/130

The Blood of the Republic was Shed - Le sang de la République a été versé - 9/130

Under Shock - Sous Le Choc - 8/130

Bullet Holes at the Laundromat - Impacts de balles au Lavratonic - 7/130

A La Bonne Bière Reopens: Shades of Emotions - Une Palette d'Emotions - 6/130