Stench I, II, III ≈ La puanteur I, II, III lors de la grève des éboueurs à Paris en juin {Paris Street Photos} {Scented Images}

Stench I ≈ La puanteur I (lors de la grève des éboueurs à Paris en juin) © CHANT WAGNER 2016

Currently, Paris is reeking. Well, that's something of an exaggeration. There are smelly hot spots since the City garbage collectors have gone on strike on June 8th. It does smell quite putrid, all the more since the sun is out helping bacteria thrive in some particularly unlucky corners of the capital city, like in this one by a restaurant...

Stench II ≈ La puanteur II © CHANT WAGNER 2016

But, it's all for the best. Focusing on something else, I was reminded of the olfactory Waterloo unfolding at hand when a group of school children walked by. I could see a few contort themselves all of a sudden, while bringing up their hands to their noses.

Stench III ≈ La puanteur III © CHANT WAGNER 2016

They would try to stop their noses.

Then, a guy looked back with no doubt a look of disbelief in his eyes in the direction of a pile of garbage which, treacherously, smelled much worse under the wind, after you'd walked past it. Meanwhile, unrelentlessly, a cook was taking out more garbage.

Here they are, the childlike illustrations of what it feels like to be overwhelmed by foul smells.

Paris has this mythical reputation for stinking to high heavens, as readers of Das Parfum by Patrick Süskind know well. I see in this scene a contemporary reenactment of that literary myth.