Champigny: comic book author Chloé Wary takes legal action after her fresco was erased by the city

The two camps have not found common ground. In a press release published on May 27, 2024, comic strip author Chloé Wary accuses the town hall of Champigny-sur-Marne of censorship. Supported by the National Union of Authors and Composers (Snac), the designer reveals that she has contacted a lawyerin order to “protect his moral rights and his artistic creative freedomundermined [selon elle] by the decisions of the municipality. The city denounces, for its part, a “relentlessness of the artist”.

Commissioned by the City, the fresco was erased a few days after the inauguration

However, the story could have been very different. In the fall of 2023, the town hall of this town in Val-de-Marne is calling on the 2020 winner of the Fauve d’Angoulême – France Télévisions Audience Award for create a fresco on the wall of a parking lot.

On almost 23 meters and with the help of residents and neighborhood associations, Chloé Wary then brings the characters from her albums together Rose Season And Rosigny Zoo.

But a handful of days after the inauguration of the work, she discovered that it had been covered with white paint.

The starting point of the conflict: the tribute to Nahel

During a meeting organized on November 2 with the author, the city will give its version of the facts. Upon discovering the final result of the order, the municipality considered that the words “Justice for Nahel”, embedded in the fresco, were inappropriate.

The memory of the death of the young miner, killed by a police officer in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) on June 27, is still vivid, as is that riots which followed the tragedy. Without warning the artist, Champigny-sur-Marne then commissioned a cleaning company.

But the latter will not only make the mention disappear, but also the whole work. “An error”, according to the town hall. Chloé Wary therefore offers to redo the fresco, but not at any price. The starting point for tedious negotiations.

After the failure of “amicable negotiations”, the artist takes legal action

More than six months after this first meeting, the situation is still frozen. “We offered Chloé Wary to redo the fresco identically, while paying her. There were many discussions held on this subject, particularly regarding financing, which she wanted more important than the first. The city, for its part, agreed to make a financial effort to repair the damage. We therefore have difficulty understanding the relentlessness on the part of this artist,” confides the municipality to Paris news.

As for the artist’s entourage, the story is very different. “It’s a sketch!” It is a malicious town hallwho, in reality, never really wanted to redo the fresco,” annoys the designer’s press officer.

The latter launched an online petition, which had reached nearly 700 signatures at the beginning of June 2024. She also contacted a lawyer. When contacted, they did not respond to our requests.

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