Here's a a great artist you could see in the streets of Nantes and Angers. This British opera-singer is a contralto who plays Olga in Tchaikovski's Eugen Onegin. Her voice is exceptionally rich in tone and colour, her acting is perfect, mobile and sensuous. No wonder she has such a fast-rising career : and believe me ! it's only the beginning. I happened to think of Kathleen Ferrier ...

Maëlle Baudry tells us about “Djerbahood”, a unique experience she has just discovered :

 Djerbahood is a humanitarian project, based on the houses of Djerba, a Tunisian island. Medhi Ben Cheikh, the director of this project, decided to call street artists -- more than 150, from more than 30 different nations. Each in his / her own way invades the streets with paints, graffiti, stencils... Erriyadh village (which means "the little love") became a symbol of positive messages of happiness, peace and freedom in a country which is just out of a popular uprising against austerity. This project is, as Mehdi Ben Cheikh said, « one of the best weapons we have in our struggle against obscurantism ». This little neighbourhood can visually take us to all the continents : Oceania, with  Fitan Maggie who travelled from Australia, North America representated by Swoon ; and staying in Africa, we count many artists, like the Kenyan WiseTwo, and Faith47, from The South-African Republic. A few years ago, when France discovered the work of this self-educated South African woman, the world of urban arts was amazed. Nowadays, she’s internationally known and her singular style is clearly recognisable. Her work is embedded, adapted in urban environments all over the world, she draws support from memory and is constantly looking for human interactions, giving new sense to her works. Her murals are political, inspired by social realities from her country. Indeed, she participates in the writing of the “New post-apartheid South Africa”. The freedom she takes as an artist astounds and forces respect. In Erriyadh, she discovered a village mixing modern and historical architectures. Faith47 creates therefore a real relation between the wall-structure and the picture she “graphs” on it. So we can see her enchanting unicorn on a tiny street corner -- how wonderful it is ! Between a dream world and the past of a place. “New South African” culture comes to confront with the post-revolutionary Arabic Tunisia, it’s as stunning as it is seizing -- evidence that, despite all censorships and criticisms, art is a free and meaningful means of expression.

Faith 47 / The Unicorn / Djerbahood

WiseTwo / Street Art / Djerbahood

Note that Djerbahood is probably derived from neighbourhood; in African-American slang, "hood" is  a neighborhood, usually a depressed community; it is most often used in reference to the neighborhood that the speaker is from.

One French engraver, born in Nantes, is almost better known in the British Isles than he is in France : his name is J.E. Laboureur (1877 - 1943).  Although little interested in the army, he was recruited by the Translation and interpretation corps in the French Infantry, and served as an interpreter to the Tommies during WW1; he also documented the daily life on the battlefront (Flanders).

 His collection of American types in Saint Nazaire is also extremely interesting :

Before the war-period, Laboureur had been an avant-garde painter:

DULCE PINZON is a Brooklyn-based Mexican artist’s work :

In the post-9/11 context, this photographer aims to reconsider the notion of what a hero is. Of course the word itself was more and more frequent in conversation, as it was necessary to qualify so many people who’d shown extraordinary courage or determination in the face of danger, sometimes sacrificing their lives trying to save others. But we sometimes forget those who sacrifice immeasurable life and labor in their day to day lives for the good of others ; aren’t they somehow heroes too ? 

Immigrant workers in New York exemplify those heroes who have gone unnoticed. “It is common for a Mexican worker in New York to work extraordinary hours in extreme conditions for very low wages which are saved at great cost and sacrifice and sent to families and communities in Mexico who rely on them to survive”, Pinzon says.

The principal objective of her series is to pay homage to these brave men and women that have no  supernatural powers but manage to withstand extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families survive.

This project consists of 20 color photographs of Mexican immigrants dressed in the costumes of popular superheroes, but captured in their work environment; each photo is accompanied by a short text including the worker’s name, Mexican hometown, number of years in New York -- and the amount of money they send to Mexico each week. (Source :)

http://www.dulcepinzon.com/en_projects_superhero.htm#