Paris Vignettes: Street Art in the 13th

The Paris Vignettes series features the inspired work of street photographer William “Bill” O’Such in themed installments

To explore the city, I enjoy booking guided walks through Paris Greeters, a group of locals who aren’t tour guides but Parisians who love to show visitors around their neighborhoods for free. For this walk, a visitor from Toulouse and I met with Odile, who guided us through the Butte-aux-Cailles district and the surrounding areas, focusing on street art.

I took a lot of photos, so it was hard to narrow it down to just 12 pictures. If you want to see more, visit my Facebook page. The Butte-aux-Cailles is a charming hilltop district that’s not on the regular tourist circuit. It’s also known for its street art. The walk began with an apartment building where the street art featured portraits of the residents (“habitants”), soon followed by one of the original “Miss. Tics” at a café (“original miss tic”), as she used to live in the area. As we continued through the streets, we came across an intriguing statement on modern life: a sheep carrying a cell phone and a large bird watching over it (“oiseau ou mouton”). At one point during the walk, I captured a photo of another visitor admiring some art, with a different piece in the background echoing her pose (“human ou art”). Turning around, we spotted a perfectly integrated piece of art that transformed a building façade into a tree within a jungle (“mur de louyz”). Finally, we saw one of the more famous pieces in the neighborhood, which aligns with a lamp post to create a charming photo (“autour la lampadaire”).

We then left the Butte-aux-Cailles to view some of the large-scale murals in the 13th arrondissement that are part of a project called Boulevard Paris 13. Many of these pieces were truly amazing. Among them were a large mural of a woman jumping for joy (“heureuse”), an odd couple (“l’amour”), and a fascinating piece where the side of a large building was painted with a distorted mirror image of a nearby building (“reflets”). The walk concluded with Odile pointing across the street and asking us if we recognized the famous doctor depicted on the wall (“docteur”). This is a famous creation by Invader. Do you recognize him? If so, let me know in the comments.

And if there are themes you’d like to see in a future installment of “vignettes,” please let me know!