Alexis Masurelle and a Bombed Train in Paris : 14 From 2014

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Happy Holidays to all of you charming and sparkling BSA readers!
It’s been a raucous sleigh ride with you and we thank everyone most sincerely for your support and participation this year. A sort of tradition for us at the end of this December we are marking the year with “14 from 2014”. We asked photographers and curators from various perspectives of street culture to share a gem with all of us that means something to them. Join us as we collectively say goodbye and thank you to ’14.

Urban explorer and Street Art photographer Alexis Masurelle caught our eye this year with his style that doesn’t heroicize, but poetically documents the underbelly, the decay, the left traces of our human folly and industry. We didn’t know what to think when we first saw his image from 2014 of a train bombed (in both senses of the word) but then we realized that it is a perfect marriage of his styles and interests in some way. The icon of a train painted (or bombed) is burned into the minds of generations of graffiti writers thanks to images of NYC trains from the 1970s and 80s, but because of an act of terrorism, this particular train has a far sadder memory in the minds of many Parisians.

“This image was shot in a train depot in September this year, nineteen years after it was bombed in Paris. The practice of street art is for most players an illegal activity punished by law. For graffiti artists the train is one of the most sought after, often guarded and difficult to access.

This historic RER (Réseau Express Régional (regional express train)) was the subject of an attack at the Saint Michel station. The historical significance is mainly owed to the fact that this train is the trace – the proof – of this. Besides being a vestige of history, this model is nearly no longer in circulation, and so it is rare to see one.”

~ Alexis Masurelle

“Terrorism”. Train Depot, Vitry-sur-Seine, France. September 2014. (photo © Alexis Masurelle)

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