Julien Blanc and Pierre Audebert died in the Big Apple while doing graffiti. Their companions exhibit their works until April 2 at the Musée des Abattoirs in Toulouse. They tell of their impossible path to mourning.
They met in Australia in a hostel. It was in April 2019. Tania had just dropped out of medical school. Pierre, alias “Full 1″graffiti since adolescence. He had not yet become the emerging star of Toulouse street-art.
“He was bright, hardworking, loyal, very humble. He didn’t talk about his art at all. It was only afterwards that I knew what he was doing,” says the 24-year-old. Their romance took a tragic turn on April 20. Along with Julien Blanc, whose artist name was “Jibeone”, Pierre lost his life while graffitiing a subway train in Brooklyn that was mowed down by a train.
“He was bright”
“I received a phone call from Ceet-Fouad (1). I was babysitting. He asked me to isolate myself. At the time, I thought that Pierre and Julien had a problem with the New York police. Yet they were very careful when they challenged each other. They weren’t hotheads. When he told me they were dead, I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock,” says Tania.
She adds, her voice trembling with sobs: “When you lose a friend, it’s already very difficult to mourn. When it’s your darling, you never get over it.”
This suffering, she managed to put aside. Tania has set up the “Full love” exhibition, visible until April 2 at the Musée des Abattoirs in Toulouse, in tribute to the two graffiti artists who have disappeared. “Philippe Joachim, the president of the friends of the museum greatly appreciated Pierre’s work. He encouraged him to make as many paintings as possible to be exhibited. I told myself that after his disappearance, I could not let this idea of exhibit his art in a museum.”
“The pain is still so intense”
She thought of the scenography, sought the best combination between the work of deceased artists. “We had to find guidelines, celebrate their creations without falling into pathos. Of course, by diving back into Pierre’s work, it stirred a lot of things in me. The most difficult thing was to relive the moments of intense joy that we both knew. I loved watching him paint. I saw him find his style. It was a wonderful moment to experience.”
Last Wednesday, took place the opening of the exhibition in the presence of forty graffiti artists and the families of the deceased. Caroline, Julien’s wife was among them with Adrien and Yohann, her two children aged two and five: “We are trying to move forward, but Julien is very much missed by me and my children. The pain is still just as intense. J I was in the loop to set up the exhibition but I had to go back to work.
I didn’t have time to get involved and then by force of circumstances a tribute, it’s nice because we’re talking about the person again but it also makes their absence reappear. As much, over time, I could have admitted that he lost his life on a mission when he was still a soldier, as much as I cannot admit it in these circumstances, “says the young mother.
