Rachid Khimoune – 1000 Tortues (1000 Tortoises)

As cheesy as it sounds, I love looking at the Eiffel Tower. Yet, I’ve never made it up there as a few years ago a ride on the London Eye with a hyperactive three year-old triggered my fear of heights. I resent that child for the affect he’s had, but I mustn’t hold a grudge. For one thing, I don’t know him, and for another, I’m an adult, so I have to act like a grown-up apparently – a grown-up with vertigo.

Anyway, grudges and phobias aside, I am in love with the Eiffel Tower. Despite constantly being bombarded by images of it and being offered miniature versions of it ‘5 for 1 Euro’ every two seconds, I never get sick of it. Each time I see it I smile to myself as it reminds me of where I live. It gives me a few minutes of contemplation about the surrealness of it.

Last weekend I took the scenic route to meet a friend which involved a stroll through the Champs des Mars, you know the big green bit at the front. It’s the best spot for laughing with/at tourists who are pretending to push the ‘Iron Lady’ over. As I got past the queues at the feet of the tower and politely declined a swarm of souvenir sellers and con-artists, I noticed there was more people than usual gathered around the Trocadero. Naturally inquisitive, I decided to take a closer look.

As I drew closer I saw a sea of white blobs. Tortoises! If you’ve read any of my earlier Artsharks blogs you’ll know that I have serious soft spot for animal-themed artwork. But this was not just one tortoise, it was hundreds, ‘1000 Tortoises’ to be exact.

The artist behind the project Rachid Khimoune, has been responsible for a number of major, successful public art installations in France. Most famously, the installation close to the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library) ‘Les Enfants du Monde’ (The Children of the World). Born in France with parents from Algeria, Khimoune embraces the role of the artist as a global citizen, using art as a universal language.

Later, when I got home and calmed down, I did a bit of research about these tortoises. My excitement turned to sad reflection as I discovered that the tortoises’ shells were in fact the helmets of American, Russian and German soldiers who died in WWII.

It shows how far we’ve come when the helmets of dead soldiers from nations who were once enemies, can be displayed together so casually.  Yet, sadly it’s not just a reminder of past mistakes but an echo from those quiet wars that continue everyday, based on (arguably) weaker excuses. Like modern wars, Khimoune’s tortoises creep along slowly and quietly, a powerful representations of the myth that is ‘peacetime’.

“The Imaginary Historian”