The Gouzou Guru . . .

Shortly after we arrived on la Réunion island, we very quickly figured out that one of the important cultural elements of any trip there is to learn to keep one's eyes peeled for Gouzous, which can appear almost anywhere, and can be easily missed if one is not vigilant. What is a Gouzou, you may well ask ?
.
A Gouzou, as far as I can fathom, is a faceless, enigmatic, pudgy little yellow creature, who often finds itself in curiously mysterious situations which leave one wondering for long moments of head-scratching afterwards as to what exactly was going on. Gouzous are the main characters in a long-running series of street art productions done by an artist from la Reunion who signs his work as Jace, the Gouzou guru. Apparently they have multiplied since their beginnings on la Reunion, and can be found in other cities around the world, including, Paris, although I'd never seen nor heard of them before going to their birthplace.
.
The first one I photographed went by so fast I almost missed it, and while shooting from a car window failed to use a shutter speed fast enough to prevent the image from being blurred. Despite the flawed photo, am tossing it in here for your perusal, for the sentimental value . . . my first Gouzou captured in pixels . . .
.
.





































.

These next two images were spotted along the road from the airport going into Saint Denis the first day we got there, before I'd ever heard of a Gouzou, but I didn't get back to photograph them until near the end of the trip. A Gouzou brain popping out the end of a trumpet-like instrument ? ? ? Talk about clearing one's head out . . .
.

The Gouzou mythology is often marvellously puzzling. A Gouzou brain is being examined here, but for what purpose ? ? ? Anyone's guess. I'd love to get into the brain of the Gouzou guru, Mr. Jace, and try to find out what is going on in there . . .
.

A Gouzou handshake . . .
.

This is the other end of the mechanical arm, with a sweating Gouzou. The work is signed "Jace 2005" with a little note in French "Désolé pour le repassage", or "Sorry for the ironing". . .
.

When we got back home to mainland France I wanted to see what was on the internet about Gouzous and their creator Jace; a quick search turned up the Gouzou website . . . I was quite amused to find that the image used on the Gouzou website menu page, with an animated video of trussed up Gouzous and a murdered cow rolling off a conveyor belt into a vat of red liquid (blood ???) is the facade of a building on the south coast of la Réunion, in an abandoned industrial site, which I found and photographed while there, in this last photo. I guess in some small way Mr. Jace and I must be working on the same wavelength. I can't imagine alot of tourists would take the trouble to go off the main road and up the side alley where this fabulous industrial cadaver is located. More on that site coming soon, with just a little nod at present to Tom Bejgrowicz, an aficianado of abandoned buildings and a fine blogger about them . . .

.
.

.
.