Inside French Parliament by Marielle Durand

Since October 2022, I have been invited by the French Parliament to come to draw every Tuesday for the «QAG», the questions (of the MPs) to the Government.

I try to capture in red and blue colored pencils the main highlights as well as minor subjects and atmosphere of the debates.
The session takes place in the famous «Hemicycle» but there are many other places of the parliament’s life that I discover and draw.
The different «salons» where the main political parties use to meet, commissions rooms where a lot of work is done without any cameras or spectacle like for the QAG, the wonderful library painted by Eugène Delacroix, the gardens, the journalists’s «4 columns» hall where I was interviewed quite a few times and many more.
The idea is to document and explain through this drawing reportage how Parliament works, especially in these crisis years for France.
I didn’t know that it would be so animated and crucial for the French political life!
As I do in urban sketching, like on the streets, on a train or in any place or for any event, I try to capture attitudes, facial expressions,
beauty, light and changing atmospheres, with techniques well chosen to describe best characters and living moments.
And everywhere I go I use my sketchbook as a universal language.
When I can combine my interest for people and drawing I feel really happy!
For this project, I decided right from scratch to draw in red and blue. Using or drinking water is forbidden in this very sacred and traditional place.
So I took my favorite color pencils, already used in 2015 for a wonderful project on Park Avenue in New-York. Red and Blue are not only nice contrasted colors. They also represent the French national flag and Republic. I chose these very same colors to celebrate

The 4th of July in the US, which underlines similarities between the American flag and the French flag… I thought that red and blue would be very symbolic of this wonderful old place with its red seats, blue suits, red faces, vivid debates, sometimes frozen moments, answers and decisions.

It is so interesting to experience politics as an insider! Many citizens and journalists have expressed an interest and seem inspired by this project where texts and captions accompany the drawings and describe crucial political events.
I will draw some more debates within the hemicycle and in commissions and live further historical moments in this famous institution.
My wish is to continue this project until at least July 2024 and maybe to enlarge it to a law in general.
Understanding how the process of a law works: from the beginning (proposal by the MP or the President) to its application (Judges and trial).