There were many of them, between Friday November 1st and Saturday November 2nd, to come and observe the sculpture installed in the choir of the Gesù churchin Toulouse. In total, approximately 800 curious people followed one another around the work of Toulouse street artist James Colomina, representing Abbé Pierre lying on a metal cart with his penis erectonly covered by a sheet. A work designed to denounce sexual abuse committed by Abbot Pierrebut also in the Christian world more generally.
“Quite disturbing”
Silentium (“silence” in Latin), the name given to this sculpture, did not leave visitors indifferentfar from it. “It moved me to tears, confides Noémie, resident of the Carmes district. I really thought of all the victims of sexual abuse, religious or otherwise.” The 53-year-old woman is also speechless at the decor around the work, with a “magnificent church, it is truly an authentic church, admires Noémie. We come in, there is magnificent music, I don’t know if it’s religious, but it’s sung. Then when we come back, we see this recumbent figure with an erection, obviously it’s quite disturbing.”
More than disturbed, Eddie is “quite shared, quite troubled all the same, it’s quite special.” He came with his son, but entered the church alone. It’s quite shocking, it’s quite inappropriate. We know that it is in a deconsecrated church, so they took advantage of that to make this exhibition on Abbot Pierre, who was a great man until the announcement of all these events and who is today ridiculed. . Can we ridicule a man of the church like that, knowing what happens in churches, etc.? ?”
“Very subtle”
On the other hand, Michel came from Pinsaguel and is not offended by this work installed in a deconsecrated church. “I am a believing Christian, but I was shocked when I discovered the actions of the Holy Man. It is a very subtle way of denouncing them, I would say very suggestive, but very telling all the same.”
Nothing to get excited about, either, for Nathalie, who lives in the Borderouge district of Toulouse. “I found that it was very strong, really very powerful in denouncing what happened in the church. The fact that this work is exhibited in a church, even if it is desecrated, that has when even a scale. When you enter the church, you smell incense, there are all the religious symbols. Besides, if you don’t know that the church is deconsecrated, there is no. sign show it. So I found that it was very strong, that it was very impertinent of the artist to have done it, but that it seemed to me to be something necessary. a lot of emotion and reflection on what I saw.”
The work was therefore only visible on Friday November 1 and Saturday November 2 in the deconsecrated church of Gesù, in Toulouse. We do not know what will become of the sculpture, but the artist reserves the right, for example, to sell it at auction.
