This picture says so much.You could see it at face value, for what it seems to be, a none too brilliant image of a small park with a group of children happily riding an old fashioned merry-go-round, whilst a woman looks out over the fence – perhaps waiting for a few more turns of the ride before taking her child on to some new game.
On my way to yet another art gallery, I was captivated after seeing a number of the more sophisticated, mechanised carousels around the city, piping out their electronic Wurlitzer music, to find this obviously well loved hand-turned version, a relic of who knows how many years gone by. The woman was the operator, who when I first saw her was arduously cranking a handle to keep the thing turning. It didn’t seem like woman’s work to me – perhaps that makes me chauvinist. On seeing me with my camera her operational duties became of secondary concern as she ran towards the fence and started yelling abuse at me, wildly gesticulating that I had no right to take pictures. I found it all rather absurd. Intent on capturing the moment and obviously not about to leave, she had picked up a handful of gravel and stones which she flung as hard as she could in my direction. I got the message, and with this one solitary frame I departed. ‘The French’, I thought.
On later reflection, I guessed that she probably had some experience of the wierdo’s that populate every large city, and mindful of her young charges her instincts were to protect them from possibly another creep loitering around her park with mal intent; another day protecting their innocence, which is gone all too soon for many children. It seemed far fetched back then, but increasingly each day’s newspapers are filled with tales of unspeakable happenings involving the young.
I am told by a colleague now working in Paris
Help stop crime against children!!!
Posts
Thank you for psting Dave!
ReplyDelete