Meryem-Bahia Arfaoui has produced a series of portraits in sound of inhabitants of the neighborhood that hosts this year’s Le Nouveau Printemps.

“I grew up in the Arnaud Bernard area. When there was a farmer’s market on Place Saint-Sernin, I used to go every Sunday with my mother. I’d meet my uncles, who worked there, and other stallholders, the folks you see only once a week but they’re still part of your daily life.”

The artist delves into her memories and those of the inhabitants of this rapidly changing neighborhood to tell its story sensitively and through several voices. “I see new trees being planted, but I don’t sense the same liveliness. The stores have shut down one after the other. New people are moving in, and I don’t know who they are.”

Adept at working in pictures and sound, using archives and present-day representations, Meryem-Bahia Arfaoui sculpts “matter-time” and personal attachments to tell us a collective story.

For Le Nouveau Printemps, the artist experiments with a method of sharing, and tags buildings to provide access to her creation. Can sound bring us together and rekindle the flame? “Today, I still walk through the neighborhood. To see friends and hang out. To tag Rue Gramat and do what I do, so Arnaud Bernard does not change completely.”

Produced by Le Nouveau Printemps.