Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by gomanugo:
Christophe,
Your work is always exceptional, but on this occasion you have excelled.
The atrocities in Paris shocked and outraged all decent people around the world. Your skills and imagination provide a fitting tribute to those innocents that lost their lives defending freedoms that are paramount.
A worthy winner for all the right reasons.
Well done.

Je suis Charlie

Message edited by author 2015-01-28 05:03:55.

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by gyaban:

Originally posted by CNovack: Christophe, I do have one question: Since there is so much symbology in your piece, and colors can mean different things in different countries/cultures - Why did you choose Liberte as wielding a red pencil?

Thanks a lot Chrystyne for your kind comment, much appreciated.
Regarding the color of the pencil, my choice was limited for technical reasons: I didn't want to break the overall color harmony, so purple or lemon green was out of question. From there, I decided to use dark red for both the writing and the pencil, as a reminder of the bloodshed that occurred in Paris, and still occurs regularly around the world. Quite a simple metaphor of course, but it was clear in my mind that it had to be that way.

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by CNovack:
In terms of art with impact - you have truly outdone yourself. I have gone back to look at the original and then your art piece; the tones, mood, characters and message are masterfully done Christophe. The cast of people in your presentation well represents the forms of expression - from music, photography, news, painting, comedy, social networking/blogger, writing/literature - that all take shelter/follow under the guiding light of the banner of liberty. In light of the terrible events that happened in France - this is a most poignant art piece that imparts a strong message. Well done - congrats on your well deserved blue.

Christophe, I do have one question: Since there is so much symbology in your piece, and colors can mean different things in different countries/cultures - Why did you choose Liberte as wielding a red pencil?

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by Sterling87:
Well done. An inspirational amount of effort went into that photo!

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by gyaban:

Originally posted by Cory: Absolutely wonderful. I've spent a lot of time admiring this, and I've found something that is distracting to me. Your wife's right leg seems to be oddly positioned and partly transparent. Forgive me if this was an intentional decision. Well done Christophe.

Thanks a lot Cory.
The right leg is not partly transparent, there is no way I would have made such mistake given the amount of time I inspected each part ;) What you see is a piece of a texture that has been applied over the whole image (you can see a similar thing over the head of the woman with the phone, for example). As for the position, I am not sure what would be odd, maybe it is the fact that the clown's foot hides it partially. Anyway her legs come from a single photo, no strange tweaking here.

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by MargaretNet:
Christophe, I hope you are famous one day and I will be able to say I know you! ;)

Message edited by author 2015-01-27 06:50:54.

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by ubique:

Originally posted by marnet: I am amazed how many comments here are about the photography and how few about the issue. ...

I think it's because the issue is difficult and not well understood. Most of the Je Suis Charlie poseurs, both universally and at DPC, are inconsistent at best and hypocritical more likely. They say, "I believe in freedom of speech but that doesn't give the right to be offensive", which actually means, "I do not believe in freedom of speech".

In your own case, just to pick a random example, you declare yourself in the first comment on this photo to be Charlie, and declare that solidarity with Charlie Hebdo is very Important to you. You declare your refusal to live in fear. And you conclude by wrapping yourself in the French flag.

But your record contrasts sharply with these declarations. You have several times in the past said, quite unequivocally, that you do not want any comments on your work that are not favourable. You have in the past had a perfectly legitimate negative comment on the artistic merits of a photograph removed by SC simply because you didn't like it, and then you gleefully celebrated your censorship in a subsequent forum post.

Christophe, in his original challenge proposal, pointed out that DPC is a community of artists, and that freedom of expression is especially important to artists. But he didn't mean merely saying it's important via a slogan. He meant actually living and working by it. As did Charlie Hebdo. Vous n'êtes pas Charlie.

Message edited by author 2015-01-26 23:36:51.

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by tanguera:
This also looks like a poster for "Les Miserable" :)

Congrats, Christophe. Awesome that you won the challenge you suggested.

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by BarbB:
WOW! Amazing, stunning image! Congrats on the blue!

Liberté d'Expression
by gyaban

Comment by Cory:
Absolutely wonderful. I've spent a lot of time admiring this, and I've found something that is distracting to me. Your wife's right leg seems to be oddly positioned and partly transparent. Forgive me if this was an intentional decision.

Well done Christophe.