If you had passed through Trafalgar Square in London in the last few days you would have seen a brightly coloured circle of pens that had been growing steadily since the day after Wednesday’s attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris. The pen has long been a symbol of freedom of expression and the vibrant display of multicoloured pens, pencils, crayons and felt-tips – tools of trade for cartoonists and writers – is a poignant reminder of all those who lost their lives in Paris.
As the first tributes were left on Thursday, there was no circle, just a few random pens, so how did this memorial begin?
As spontaneous #JeSuisCharlie rallies and vigils sprung up in France and around the world on the day of the attack, people began placing pens alongside the candles.
Rebecca Denholm, who works near Trafalgar Square, wanted to see if that had happened in London too: “I had seen pictures on the BBC of pens in Place de la Republique being laid into a heart-shape. They made a beautiful, colourful sight. I knew there had been a vigil in Trafalgar Square, so I went there and found dozens of pens piled higgledy-piggledy in amongst the #JeSuisCharlie placards.”
Denholm, who is a corporate video producer and events manager, so perhaps used to shaping things, was prompted to act: “I thought, if I took all the pens out and laid them end-to-end in a circle (easier to do , and perhaps a bit more British than a love heart!) they’d make a beautiful and powerful symbol. A couple of other onlookers helped me and by the time I left, 20 minutes later, loads of people had started adding new pens. I added one of my own.”
As Denholm returned to the site after finishing work on Thursday evening she saw that people had added more pens to the original few dozen, the single line was now 10 or 12 deep. “Without the Circle, the pens would just have piled up in amongst the papers and flowers, and probably be swept away,” Denholm reflects. “The Circle gave it an identity and a sense of validity.”
The circle was growing daily, as was Denholm’s sense of ‘care’ for it – and also the people who engage with it. She’s talked to many, among them a French couple on holiday, a Whitehall civil servant, originally from Poland, a policeman who’s half French and a homeless man leaving a candle. She’s also struck up a relationship with another regular visitor, the Rev Katherine Hedderly from the church that overlooks Trafalgar Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields. Inside the church, a ‘focus for prayer’, with a photograph of the circle, is dedicated to “all the victims in Paris and for all those affected by terror and violence in our world.”
Hedderly adds “It has been very moving to see all who have gathered here in the Square in solidarity, we are reminded of the great need there is for our world to work for all the things that hold us together – peace, community, friendship across faiths and cultures. It is so important for us here in London especially.”
For Denholm, the circle is about protection too: “The messages, flowers, candles and placards that are placed in the centre of the pens are ‘protected’ by the pens in a way.” It remains to be seen how long the circle of pens can remain in the Square but for the moment as people from all over the world continue to leave their pens and pencils, it’s a place of reflection and respect and perhaps too a symbol of hope and unity for all.
This piece was updated on 12 January as the pen circle has now been removed and every pen and pencil carefully packed away by Rebecca Denholm, so that it can be reproduced in another place.
Rebecca Denholm shared her story about the circle of pens with GuardianWitness