Wednesday 28 June 2017

Silence, a sexist way of behaving

[SUMMER SOLSTICE 2019: ex InrockTelerama grand reporter Emmanuel Tellier got sacked 27 May 2019 for sexual harassment at work https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/medias/harcelement-sexuel-a-telerama-deux-journalistes-licencies_2081814.html

Day of Rage, 21 June 2017
© Sybille Castelain

#GrenfellTower #Housing #DirtyJournalism #Plagiarism #Rumours #Sexism #AbuseOfPoverty #LigueDuLOL

[UPDATED Since first published -> formidable & predictable (and typical) women’s interest” answer from Florian ReynaudLe Monde the day following this post (picture below my signature) + RT on Télérama on 4 July 2017 + RT on Les Inrocks on 7 July 2017! Mocking most probably sexual harassment I suffered from EmmanuelTellier
11 December 2017, Christmas season (ideal time for Christmas shopping), Florian Reynaud is sent back to London. 
Shamelessly, in a rather febrile English, Twits a victims relative A. Chaoui (found on BBC News 'Diverse panel' or The Guardian's Grenfell victims' family) asking if they both can discuss / meet up! 
2 May 2018, Florian Reynaud even promotes my aggressor via #RomainJeanticou @ #Telerama https://twitter.com/romainjeanticou/status/991600772319268864 > see pix 2 May below signature;  
On 21 December 2018, I observed Florian Reynaud returning to writing on video games https://twitter.com/Sybillebbldnrbt/status/1076203719790915585, which original TW went totally invisible... Usually, journalist Isabelle Rey-Lefebvre writes on housing for Le Monde. 
In November 2018, Allan Kaval wrote on the insalubrities of a Parisian suburb building, hence my question on why send a game expert in London to write on Grenfell Tower when he doesn’t cover similar topics in France!
8 February 2019Libération reveals the nasty existence of La Ligue du LOL which Alexandre Lechenet, friend of Florian Reynaud, was part of (see black picture below). New York Times wrote about it on 12 Feb 2019
Will Florian Reynaud celebrate the Grenfell Tower's tragedy for its two year anniversary in June 2019I bet he will! 
2021: Florian Reynaud is no longer writing on video games ('punishment' over), he has a promotion "Journaliste @lemondefr, service@pixelsfr, division cyber. Mail : freynaud at lemonde et florianreynaud at protonmail" (as seen from his Twitter bio)
2021: Michael Szadkowski, stealing my contacts & encouraging Florian Reynaud to rape my text on Grenfell Tower (see 4th photo below) has been promoted to Director/Editor to French HuffPost!
Le Monde's directors Jerome Fenoglio (in 91 he started @LeMonde when I started @lesInrocks; in 94 when he ITW Zidane, I picked up plastic glasses in a music venue. Today, months after months, he pins up his good selling scores as Le Monde Director), Luc Bronner (fake beacon of hope for #MeToo), Louis Dreyfus (claps on good scores) are not going to let a woman, me, damage their reputation... 
Am I the only one to complain about their plagiarism? Not according to VanityFair
Vice France paid the price as well, when months later Le Monde showed no shame in stepping into their footprints!
More recently, Le Monde plagiarised Harper's Bazaar which Canadian Lincoln Agnew describes as Le Monde's lack of ethic!

In the mid 90’s, I discovered the Alternative Fashion Week in Spitalfield Market in Shoreditch, East London. At the time, few people ventured there. It was years before it suffered its gentrification process.
My first attendance there as a photographer was a complete fail: I was a newcomer, short and slim and worse of it all... a woman!
From the second day to the following years, I had to arrive earlier to get a good spot (smaller people have to be at the front) and I became known as the swearing little French lady. Press officers and organisers liked me anyway. A women gang!
Always chic, finding my niche and telling off any men trying their luck at pushing me behind. “Bleeding asshole” has always been a favourite of mine. “Kiss my ass” does its job too.

When I set up my blog in March 2013, I wanted to cover art and culture in London. A way to keep in touch with an environment I have been familiar with for over two decades as well as showing off my style (if any) in both writing and photography. A good way I thought to find a job perhaps?
I have, at first, borrowed an idea here and there from film and exhibition reviewers. It didn’t feel good but I needed to get back on the horse. At least I borrowed from people who got paid for their work. Never an entire piece... Still it is bad!

In the following months of my “start-up”, I noticed JD Beauvallet or “his” magazine Les Inrocks stepping into whatever I was doing and then launching “Les Frères James” a few months later (which must be written by him or his son) for Les Inrocks.
The French guy living in Brighton is even very proud of having “discovered” the band Algiers (I interviewed them in 2013) who became filthy nasty towards Charlie Hebdo straight after the massacre in Jan 2015! Their album became one of Les Inrocks best albums of 2015 and they played for Les Inrocks Festival that same year...
[Those interested in seeing how Les Inrocks covered my pieces, I invite you to check this piece from 5th paragraphIf you have time...” downwards (it’s not an exhaustive list, but enough to realise).]
I sent a few emails to Frédéric Bonnaud, then editor for the weekly paper. His response was an intense violent silence.
His replacement Pierre Siankowski? Complete silence. Then censorship on Les Inrocks FB page. Finally banning me from commenting / liking on its page. When? When I asked why Agathe Auproux (now Cyril Hanouna’s subject) wrote a piece on George Michael’s death from my twit!

It wasn’t enough for Les Inrocks to sexually harass me or at least let it happen (see link near Frédéric Bonnaud) or humiliate me when I worked there, they also had to prevent me from working in the field I chose and now they keep harassing me... intellectually raping my pieces! 25 years on! But for you guys reading this, I’m probably crazy!

Writing for my blog on art and culture, I sometime write on social issues. Mostly things to do with housing. A real issue in London. Dating back at least from the Victorian times, but surely WW2 didn’t help. For some, at least squatting was an option. Today, it has become a thing of the past.
I have been lucky: I lived near Marc Bolan tree; moved near Riverside Studios where I worked with its cinema director; moved near Shepherd’s Bush Empire where I waited tables; moved in a Hackney warehouse where I mastered the art of the Camberwell carrot (you will have to watch Bruce Robinson’s Withnail & I for that). Now I live in a super quiet and idyllic place, above the River Lea, facing protected Leyton Marshes where no buildings can be erected ever. Soon I won’t be able to pay my rent for my benefit allowance has been severely reduced... my next place will be the street! That’s why I voted Sadiq Khan, hoping for a change for all.

Was I surprised about the fire in Grenfell Tower? Fuck no! Surprised it didn’t happen sooner anywhere else. Convinced it will now be an excellent pretext to dislodge people quicker than expected from those “risky” towers / council flats and relocating them outside London, far up north. Not those from Grenfell though. Most of them will be re-housed in luxury flats. Am talking people in Camden, Brixton, Hackney, you name it.

Was I surprised to read Florian Reynaud’s piece on Grenfell Tower for the newspaper Le Monde? Fuck yeah! So I twitted him and Le Monde Editor in chief Luc Bronner about the similarities of my text and his, and their use of similar pictures to mine on 22 June 2017.
I was already mad that (again) JD Beauvallet was spreading alarming fake news and silly rumours (gathering a pretty fair amount of “likes” “shares” and RT on twitter/FB) on the Grenfell Tower issue.
Without crediting the pic, JDBeauvallet says 
it's from West London, near the Grenfell Tower, in the 70's.
Here is Phil Maxwell's website & photo credit: 
Stepney, East London, 1981
According to its Twitter account 
@TheSandbergs is based in Sweden

I had been previously edgy at Le Monde for mistreating / over twitting on the London Bridge attack in the night of 3 to 4 June 2017. Better pay tribute properly to the victims and helpers in this terrorist attack!

Don’t get me wrong, I follow Le Monde on Twitter and I have no time to follow some wankers. I am seriously wondering now... [as of 14.3.2019, Luc Bronner & CM team have blocked me 

as mentioned here]

Just like any other media, if they are trying to rejuvenate their image by employing young writers / reporters, then I declare myself the young one despite being their mothers’ age!
The Golden Palm goes to “Stepford WivesFleur Burlet @ Les Inrocks: she helped herself on my blog like a pimp with no shame! Just left London for good now. Gal must have got traumatised at V&A Balenciaga’s PV.

I knew Le Monde had at least two London male correspondents dealing mainly with political issues. Surely, they must have known of me if they needed an extra hand to write about something? Admittedly, I am no political journalist for I know nothing and I wouldn’t feel comfortable in plagiarising the Beeb or The Guardian!
Straight after my first twit, totally gutted and in strong / quick need of an explanation I emailed Luc Bronner, even offering him some photos since I marched for The Day of Rage. As devastated as I was, I e-corresponded with someone @ Le Monde I have known for a long time, who replied quickly that Bronner should be responding (Normalement, Luc Bronner est tenu de te répondre. Amitiés, S. 22 June 2017).
This person has always managed to calm me down. I don’t see “it” anymore but I trust “its” wisdom.
Four days later, on 26 June re-email to Luc Bronner.
On 27, JD Beauvallet was very quick at grabbing an opportunity to twit on Le Monde’s correspondent Philippe Bernard, himself RTing it. I have never seen any social media connection between the pair of them before...
This morning, 28 June I twitted to Michael Szadkowski (Le Monde) & Alexandre Lechenet who praised Florian Reynaud for his good work asking if he was good because he knew how to copy-paste? Tagging also Luc Bronner.


Alexandre Lechenet, membre of la Ligue du LOL

Bronner hasn’t twitted anything since 25 June. I’ll have to assume he is either on holidays or something really bad happened to him. Strangely enough, his last twit is about ‘... a man’s struggle against silence’, the world of deaf. Strangely enough, I am deaf. Almost. Silence I know and I don’t mind. But silence because some men choose to ignore a legitimate plea is also a sexist way of behaving! All of them in this issue of plagiarism!

Just because my prose / photos are out there doesn’t mean it’s free to be used. If it’s good enough to borrow, then it should be good enough to hire me decently! 
Delighted to notice that Le Monde directors' 
(Jerome Fenoglio/Luc Bronner)
choice of images and prose are identical to mine

Both my age and gender shouldn’t be an obstacle! I feel extremely lucky about my outstanding genetic inheritance, my good looks, stamina and accidentally a fully working brain.
If Florian Reynaud’s article bearing a strong resemblance to mine was pure coincidental, there wouldn’t be any harm letting me know, would there?
Within a week, Grenfell Tower survivors have had more answers than I... expecting a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

So... Florian Reynaud is writing in the name of... justice? Don’t kid yourself kid!
Sweetie darling, take a good look at Kevin Carter’s image and decide who you are... Surely, you will never ever be that photographer, reporter!

Journalism seems to become a vulture culture... where there is death, they rip off what’s available! Funnily enough, Reynaud has been friend with Agathe Auproux (George Michael “obituarist”) for... years? And his other friend is gossip storyteller Marie Turcan who, when at Les Inrocks, wrote a piece where she describes Bethnal Green as a no-go-zone... She might have disliked my prose on her after her stunt (scroll down to July 2016, white background)!
I might be a fierce defender of my work, but London is also where I belong!

Nobody should ever feel like Jessica Jason Leigh lying on a mattress in Uli Edel’s Last Exit to Brooklyn.


Sybille Castelain sybillecastelain@yahoo.co.uk

Florian Reynaud RT on 29 June 2017


 Florian Reynaud likes a post on 2 May 2018 of
Emmanuel Tellier who sexually harassed me
@ Les Inrocks
Florian Reynaud likes a post on 2 May 2018 of
Emmanuel Tellier who sexually harassed me
@ Les Inrocks

Tuesday 27 June 2017

[EXHIBITION / INTERVIEW] In the Future, They Ate From the Finest Porcelain (2016) by Larissa Sansour & Søren Lind – part of Into the Unknown: A Journey through Science-Fiction til 1 Septembre 2017 @ Barbican





Due to constant plagiarism and ongoing psychological abuse, I have taken down this post!
I started this blog to write on art, music, films... enlighten artists and what’s going on in London in hope of finding a job!
First, I was sexually harassed at Les Inrocks (FR) in 1991-1992.
Then, it became a chase after what I was doing, trying to become a journalist and photographer.
Plagiarism I for Les Inrocks;
Plagiarism II for Les Inrocks;
Plagiarism III for Bangumi/Stupefiant on France2 (TV) in January 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C910RtNTxsw;
Plagiarism IV for Le Monde;
Stalking my Twits for Les Inrocks ;
Humiliated by ex boss at Inrocks who published my face as a cat in 2017, same guy who runs rumours about anything.

This is a short list! If you need to contact me, use my Yahoo. If you want to offer a job, I’m available @Sybillebbldnrbt

Monday 26 June 2017

21 juin 2017 : Day of Rage #GrenfellTower

21 juin 2017 © Sybille Castelain


Due to constant plagiarism and ongoing psychological abuse, I have taken down this post!
I started this blog to write on art, music, films... enlighten artists and what’s going on in London in hope of finding a job!
First, I was sexually harassed at Les Inrocks (FR) in 1991-1992.
Then, it became a chase after what I was doing, trying to become a journalist and photographer.
Plagiarism I for Les Inrocks;
Plagiarism II for Les Inrocks;
Plagiarism III for Bangumi/Stupefiant on France2 (TV) in January 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C910RtNTxsw;
Plagiarism IV for Le Monde;
Stalking my Twits for Les Inrocks ;
Humiliated by ex boss at Inrocks who published my face as a cat in 2017, same guy who runs rumours about anything.

This is a short list! If you need to contact me, use my Yahoo. If you want to offer a job, I’m available @Sybillebbldnrbt

Friday 16 June 2017

Grenfell Tower: a walk through a community in West London

Message from London Fire Brigade (LFB)
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
Last summer I set up a goal of photographing tower blocks / high rise / multistoried building in London. I trekked east, south, north and west. I had a crush on anything brutalism, so I trekked even further. London is a jungle for housing. Some are new buildings, some are derelict and others were supposed to be knocked down, but got listed instead.

If you want to volunteer or help one way or another, see pictures below or contactgrenfellvolunteers@rbkc.gov.uk


Due to the fire emergency and people in need of help, I’m posting pictures first and below is my text written on 18 June. I went there on Friday 16 June and Sunday 18 June – The fire broke on 14 June 2017 – More pictures below my prose.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2iW2MlKRXN3oYuhwdD6IGQhkcUS_KHF4g5cs1Go4qkzinZyFqXnvrPbvfgoLEHsK8doVOfI8cJ0-0E84ETa9TQ8zTusf4zgdZ99iArT9tmoxQsLMg3Afi9Xesg-z1yAN2UY4INQHpIfxR/s320/2.JPG
 hundred of people passing boxes from a site to another
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACyjN35q2oy0DmTBDmFiZsPS5WuVNbxJSLYz4md-mDqkQMUcj5gsggVy4WheEbB77tdk9Jc50WDyYnVz7zI6yhci34X7Bgiaa2zQVP5nUPbtXuakpjqpF7HswHDdS5v2GKTijBNLjXaND/s320/3.JPG
 This emergency gas work started weeks ago unrelated to the fire
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAL7ouQL0uIFrOX29R7nlm8nmF9oQNxLh7Ci9rvtBngwUCpmNwQbvvyrM3lePUClLfGNvjYcnQIBR6Lpmvtmc-cWEaWsS0o0BHtMzfFBDy0uQmOYmdwQ4xVDyofvyTxnFgeIrAVUGJTJ57/s320/4.JPG
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFnFXuopulLA-nlKa_e9icPPTVt382fDPf7C_TDN6P7apJdicIH7Ohsj7Wh0z-a_mZ46iuzwICr4MYq0PDn5_tbrY61YIQy_n-k2_W2JMVXFborT5l0DaifmiibZThR1TohOyEvm_Q_Jvk/s320/5.JPG
 Teenager passing on boxes supporting a missing teen girl t.shirt
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozn9scMvk4ZMZxb92MtwKbhFNlMTaEAm0aNAeWl-0vVHj3cXhZgab0Cz6oGgfq7qPW1w2yWv_pPE3iJqzOZ-m3PIjIJIWnzJ8AwKcUjfW56JVmM8TTbp5iojOB9I9vQseR0V3iME8ayIs/s320/6.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NYUVJwn3m_s1Llf9RXQm7KJ-4curlShoGRWdfwslS-GJpnfzhZZMRu6z-n2uJRdqnobQTH-CAd9YYArqat7GHgLqNhIFxhdRPjUNr-japF5fjN67CqcRE72JD7pDPCtq8iJXUsAX4Fru/s320/7.5.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidzvfC7Buky1GxKBeAzPUAv0FPGWBz7bVNsLPenDfTZivEc_VlZViEKuJAdon4mwQAtqztk-OU1vmbtpprduomte-3tHhgZpsTCgCCgSWkv3u6sgbgJUY7SGLOLuJkmdz0CT3Xrrj-lv7R/s320/7.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKQ0rIcs5_dXGBPCTmgbaJPaJf_9dYFpEO3y9MFaKJscNLwivgd43auZIFOV5FhQPFSCnXOL2AwlRP-rgQdDPVOZsQNW7PVTkEPsmQjTQcXxcG6AsyttjjWp07i1RVAl_HjbrnPqv5y_I/s320/8.JPG
 Notice board with help places to go to
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFH2_Adl6S3fZIauuD5BXkyBdJuEQSN3sYarDk_80Uz5X9qkUJ5YBSbTXdH21kINwbaM1AmWzZT00HN14A-IXJ7AO6HQ-9IKEG-XfseX7W3bnSeOBQNJHbf7YeqVwxLLinw24nWAaZWOGr/s320/9.JPG
 Jamie Oliver has also sent some of his chefs onsite:
https://www.facebook.com/jamieoliver/photos/a.10150336718739807.354708.27994914806/10155015451079807/?type=3&theater
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzTeuboqpOMxQCRqVB-aIi3wgovOFBSE3FSKHF3U-5HJxb19eANVaxhiNsaSK84v4t0elRb8Bf4OgmgJ2fa-DIsUr_YgjXSd4lexVYIUp35ubtJAVpQSqaeVMsYCloyELMXVkNH1ofoJ3K/s320/10.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvoGplVbLiqlht6UTH90GepH6muy9sWbNilFxxenqigQDCN2rx7g1R2cCKrgtDDiFEM2_9TlkJfnyVuo2-rme1NTR198LVCWUbDXeCyJ3wQGKkDP9medRKwSZjqNg1DJEq_gcLbwUFB188/s320/11.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNrlXlEcJ7UYInTn0rO5SMfnx8i1Phaer36RfvvZLGFQZQcDyobFr62WkzZeo_YSmvVQtOaO09PXrfTteCo6PmhJEJ8TL-Py6EftoCM46DjWeURFLGnmcsnMThhKr7PbA9u4ZYMz6c22CQ/s320/12.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQp4iUO_1LOPw9JxkIF3y7VMqMxBUmwe7JrZectlQBq_bexGWVvYuArGd9iUHY3clGhU9wqFty2EA39TejbOhxdbRpXxwM0YcJ4cktggddEOsdB5e8YTKd7EmALxpU2nbedk1Lfkj4ITm/s320/13.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJYbCYgwnUe7U0f_Cjq3cK0xzSL0YYQ5nmivKClI4FktDeJkGfH8HxbyWASqfrSG2_AlUzzLBeArJGKmAEc8s17H8__UH4VdpS7V2uug-wfVff_cr21PqRZN8XAYNwyOw3CpZKbB1EugpC/s320/14.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihQC7Sn4KeW3Y2Pud4S8xMCNMpBupwH_vcnQFzCobNAI7L3pM3EUUZlt0MLE75OnNeGUdm12XsfInMGU_fBiDjVcLySvNeKDExOsv8viy8yKmffbKLsv8Q8XH7UmDnoywzZyOQyfUFf94i/s320/15.JPG
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYjrS-VzJFLQvc2pyy5lyNW7SzqvCb2Jr5uI5tKxGHRV6P8o7cK09Kr8D0QRa3TEpGYBqdgqYvjb-95W5CXSSt4MEF3cuzdSP5B8DbVERMhlJdo6WFmgygCxjQGQzWElvjcTWuyzweM3jI/s320/16.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1l6zFq_RhdKcbCgsdn4el2h0qGUKZFdjajIoI62PMoefvjwLfPHVEUkyK3dZUWrw-neN2FmX8OOvjNxCc9KCLPkpmS73VpegS_dg-AMFQQObHEUbZrUElkiiODid-yiiCJ9og-YcKT7XC/s320/17.JPG
 Tribute place
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwT-vFiX3b4Wjz4zLTWotyEO4FPX4CNNjDYdKD5ifc105pIGbkCmdbMXP6vDifninyfefKVfbT82BWJ0s1pi2QWgwcLv7Q1_vnphKN34Nx2ISqD0dv1qYz09daaiiuYOOzlakFd9_4ApYE/s320/19.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf80vbPpXhoFHz-Ax4Vshe-cSs8xQs6CH_LGRqoq_DIglaP9dZkEjc5V5tLlKQDLnLCXLHw_yG8SOEGGebRiRZAGIgAcDAigpEq5uzc_CTg1kxnGGLRLmqy4OYHQFKeaIJBoJUjIhkGsQl/s320/20.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsxTe6vRJArVQ77yoI0VzRPcY4AFUsqfJ5wVFruCQbz-Uj111Fyr8EfNBlQhbLSbC84bp88YJ-OtQyqMiF8eh8IZe7nrWBeUysi4s3jO7dzccLrteS1-0XMar6XYftWywIKuDa4-Hdez1C/s320/21.JPG
 16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNjk74IihRqBJNP2zw1GBaE2EbmYhvmWItvYFaxktsgTpQb_UMb-X-Sj2XYL405H8E0n5XmycmWtAjtpol4_kdEjb3yDAvWEZUgaIayP6BwjcL0vFLM69-sm346ltmFtk8Dhw_ncv7iSEo/s320/18.JPG
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8sfHw6jftO8uoBlFmOExQ4f_98tf1vICD6mK0JHy5nwQgkYFK-ShT2wGI8qC726fKJlMqwszF38oXHGa2xPj_EiDlNlcG0Vtz7c0niso_P8OR9JyfmYdjN075vsGgU5BRyEbL693iv8N/s320/IMGA0894.JPG
Mass on 18 June
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGzWmwJT-y60KxGS58Jlj774Y_wdnVTYJWfqQctLpaQpA8sTD_1s6OOfwW5TtEKq0FCtUb9MalDJG2UP5oUyqmDxnphdKveXzdvQYiKNgw_s88VzvGrvHwiokHyOi0wQwYjaeT2pcfN7eB/s320/22.JPG
 A block tower opposite Grenfell Tower
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWnrO3gyIHCsnPL_C6YsswJTsl9FVZAMj8h7jsevjT9GuYAzasjtwxCZsh3_rv5ae8MAsuhBHUGqD58y9zg6f7oLbDXBkcQ79Ccs7EkiyI-Yc-ljERNQ4qdi2Foa-qedro_75dJa8R3krV/s320/23.JPG
 Grenfell Tower view near Latimer Road Station
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJNgiVVSSr7jQToTJ_vKnQp_gzhTnzbYznnwsyJGAqmL-njkIfmnCsoBoMKC2ezlBsNnAOnxxQUTfGBMnryuzaXXIHK0-LqKVExQowXDBmGkksZPX5qPeDOI5DOVxzWM6hNNkxKLtVHb4N/s320/24.JPG
 A picture of Grenfell Tower before 14 June 2017
as pinned on the tribute wall
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 Grenfell Tower on 16 June
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 A spot where goods are being delivered. 
Still many LFB and police people around
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 Grenfell Road, W11
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 The van behind is off to many spots to deliver boxes
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 The car of a missing man
16 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain


On 16 June, I made my way to Ladbroke Grove and bumped into a friend who is usually involved in the music scene (friend with some ex The Smiths etc). Let’s call her / him Val. So Val, a resident near Grenfell Tower for two decades was very angry and hardly slept: the money spent on the tower renovation was apparently less than its initial budget, plus the building protection was some cheap material and unsafe.
Val has been helping since the early hours of the fire! On Thursday 15 in the night, because of Ramadan, Muslims set tables and food to share with survivors.

When I arrived on site, mainly cordoned off, the first striking thing was human faces plastered on walls, bus stops, pubs, shops with a “headline” MISSING. I took pictures. Later I chose not to publish them in a frontal way but from far.

In that chain of solidarity, when they were passing boxes, I noticed a mix of population. That very mix that attracted me when I lived nearby in the 90’s up to 2004. I always had to go to Ladbroke Grove for its market, its fine vintage shops (mainly gone now), its young designers, its music scene (Drum & Bass was my favourite), its grain shop food that you could take away and eat it at Mau Mau next door, its experimental film progs... its cultural mixed crowd: from Arabic to West Indies, from white European to the Asian descent peeps. It was and still is somehow vibrating.
In that chain, I noticed a teen boy harbouring an A4 print of paper of a missing girl. I wondered if he knew her, if they were classmates, school friends, neighbours, family...
I took pictures of boxes being passed and in between vans, I asked if I could take a picture of him with that image glued to his t.shirt. He said “no”. I understood and went “No worries”. I departed and he waved at me to come back. There was not much time as another set of boxes started to wave in people’s arms. There was good humour happening. I switched back my camera and as the lens pointed in his direction, he dropped his smile, got his arms behind his back and looked at me in defiance. There was one click before a box reached him! I said “thank you” and he replied “thank very much”.
It was that moment when two human beings understand each other. It didn’t matter if he knew her at all actually. After all, it was about a symbol and an understanding of that gravity of life. Something he will now carry all his life. Something that will give him a good reason to be angry. Enough is enough!

I trekked all around, took pictures, talked to people or rather they talked to me. I didn’t belong to any TV crew and I was perhaps more approachable in their eyes?
By the car of a missing man, an older man from North Africa came up to me and showed me a picture of his friend Hamid on his smartphone. His son told me his father saw the tower burning from his tower in Paddington. He took a day off to support his father. There is no picture of Hamid anywhere he said. He was a single man living on the top floor.  I tried to be clumsily positive and sent my prayers to them. They said “thanks very much for talking to us”. I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I smiled weirdly. I thought it wouldn’t be a matter of healing to those who are being directly traumatised, but the close ones, those whose life is being changed... they will also have to adapt.
I stood there by the car with a journalist from The Independent. She was typing, I was thinking of the beautiful animation by Michaël Dudok de WitThe Red Turtle.
I crossed the road and asked the policeman if the figure of dead people was known. “people on the top floor didn’t make it”. Out of curiosity I asked if there were hundreds of people living in the tower. He nodded. Hundreds of people could be dead? He didn’t know for sure but his face and body language seem to agree. He added that the tower will be knocked down at some point.

On my way home, I picked up the Evening Standard in the street. I did some shopping near my Hackney home and the shop assistant asked to see the newspaper. She knew some people in the block. Are they ok? I ventured. They are all dead... the whole family she said.
Once at home, I checked my “Tower blocks list to photograph” and the Grenfell Tower was on it: a brutalism tower block design of 24 floors from late 60’s; 67 metres tall housing up to 600 working class people; planned to be demolished in 2014 (according to some rumours) but renovated in 2016.


Today, 18 June, I went back. There was some confusion, rumours, sadness. The tribute wall has grown: flowers, candles, teddy bears, messages on many walls and so many pictures of missing people. Some people might have chosen to stay in with their pets.
The whole area seems to be a desolate place, a cemetery of thought... a ghost village with that now blackened tower supervising the neighbourhood, still standing in defiance, resisting, deeply wounded... once sheltering hundreds of families and now being reduced to be a tourist attraction!

I heard kids telling their parents they knew those kids on the A4 papers glued on lampposts... I spoke to a 70 years old mother from Liverpool visiting her daughter who worked with many families in the tower, including the Boucair family. That very family who were friends with my local shop assistant. A mum Nadia, a dad and their three children Mierna (13), Fatima (11), Zeinab (3).
The lady’s daughter is sheltering some survivors. How long are people going to sleep in churches, community centres, halls, hotels? She guesses about two months...


It’s growling out there and this is not a single community but many standing together!

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimayT_PrbThzvaqvhkxT7ZlFxPxoHO1fBq4-WJNhrejNXLRrEtHhf0KtFHW6dTaKCQcvfQdZvqrf6GYgh_KBsYsLL8l6AAhoGiQu6pRgbwtzAsPO8T_Fw5e-Z6IvDZNwHH-9qZdTwUcXrz/s320/IMGA0926.JPG
 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain

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18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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Tons of toys, clothes, food  
18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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 18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain
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18 June 2017 © Sybille Castelain

23 June, a new poster of a dog who managed to escape the fire but is now somewhere in the streets of Ladbroke Grove, if you found him:
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Sybille Castelain sybillecastelain@yahoo.co.uk