Art Appreciation - JR

I read the New York Times Article about this year’s TED Prize winner, JR, a Photographer and Street Artist who installs Large-Scale, Black and White Portraits in Slum Neighborhoods around the World. His Photographs have appeared Everywhere from the Paris Banlieues to Shanghai, capturing the People who live there, and thereby asking Inhabitants to directly Visualize their own Community. Here are some of his work in Shanghai....

For example, in Israel, JR Created an Installation called Face 2 Face, leading “a Grassroots Team of Community Members posted Huge Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians Face to Face in Eight Palestinian and Israeli cities, and on the both sides of the Security Fence/Separation barrier.” 

For Women Are Heroes, he installed Series throughout Africa and South America “Underlining the Dignity of Women who are the Target of Conflict.” 

In Kenya, the Photographs were printed on Waterproof Vinyl to double as “New Roofs for Ramsackle Houses.”

Working anonymously, JR “does not ask Permission from the Authorities, he does work directly with the Communities in which he is Exhibiting…..People in the Exhibit Communities, those who often live with the Bare Minimum…don’t just see it, they make it. Elderly women become Models for a day; Kids turn into Artists for a week. In this Art scene, there is no Stage to separate the Actors from the Spectators. 

In this way, JR’s work is beyond Site-Specific—the Global Streets are both his Canvas and his Art Gallery. Watch the inspiring TED video HERE.
Then read the full New York Times Article and view a Beautiful slideshow of His Work, then visit JR’s website to view more Photographs, then read more on the TED Website.