It is raining. We sit under a tree, so I can take a portrait of Jean-Pierre. He was waiting for this moment but didn’t dare to call me back.

Andreï kindly offers me to hold an umbrella over my head while I am drawing. I don’t accept because I don’t want to tire him out. Audrey and Jean-Pierre wish to offer me a coffee to thank me.

Jean-Pierre’s, « JP’s », place in the team is unique. He is a beneficiary but can’t stand still and is one of the most committed volunteers. His keen mind leads him to invent accessories for distributing napkins and cutlery, pepper mill holders and other covers of all kinds. The only problem is that the materials used for the DIY are found on the street. When his inventions are refused, JP feels hurt, so we try to find a compromise and install them discreetly in the least visible corner of the table.

Once, after the distribution of the meal, JP went with another volunteer for a coffee and fell on the floor in front of the counter. A stroke. He was not seen again for at least a month, and this portrait was drawn the day he returned to our site. When he received a photocopy of his portrait, he framed it, still using salvaged material. The next time he brought it to the site, hung it on a tree and sat under it to eat his soup as if it was his home.

In autumn, I had an exhibition in a gallery in Montmartre. JP came to discover, but I wasn’t there. He left a present for me: a bag of biscuits and two overripe tangerines. The gallery owner gave them to me. It was one of the best gifts I’ve ever had. He could have eaten those tangerines by himself.

Gallery