ALL ARTISTS// JR
© JR
Eyes Open
Working without authorization and identified only by his initials, Parisian artist JR exhibits on streets all over the world. Pasting his enormous photographs of local people onto buildings in neglected neighbourhoods, he makes art with and for its subjects. The vast scale of the work is breath-taking and the aim is always social connection, through revealing, close-up, often humorous portraits of people usually identified only by their poverty. JR’s projects have taken him on long international trips, to Cambodia, Palestine, Israel, China...He has wrapped his images onto Rio’s oldest favela and moving freight trains in Kenya. And he has now won one of the most prestigious humanitarian awards - the TED Prize 2011. The non-profit organisation TED runs a much-lauded conference lecture series as forums to exchange inspirational ideas. The prize is $100,000 and a “wish” – the chance to launch a project “To Change The World”. We catch up with JR as he releases his first film “Women Are Heroes” and prepares his next steps:
Photographer, street artist, activist….who is JR?
JR: I do not consider myself to be a street artist or a photographer. I paste posters. For my projects, I use photography but also video, print on paper or tarp, urban spaces, publishing, but especially the social link. With my street posters I am trying to bring art to unlikely places, and to create with communities projects so big that they force questions. In tension areas like the Middle East or Brazil, which have high media profiles, I’m trying to create images that offer other points of view than the reductive one given by the global media.
My inspiration comes from curiosity, a curiosity about the other, about travelling, about countries I visit. Most of the time, I discover these countries through the media. Through my work, I hope I can re-interest the media in these places through non-violent events. So that means I re-use the same media machine but to bring a new perspective to these places. That is why I use huge format images, the codes of advertising, communication and image but in spaces that cannot be exploited by advertising.
The word politics is a word that scares my generation, I keep a distance from that word. Even if my art sometimes express more than a vision, it reflects my opinion…
“Wrinkles Of The City, Shanghai 2010”
Why did you make women the focus of your Women Are Heroes project?
JR: I noticed that in many countries around the world the men have the best positions in society. It’s often through the women that you really get to understand a country (culturally, socially…) I wanted to highlight the dignity and the courage of these women in a world mostly run by men, and in the face of some pretty tough situations. Despite everything, these women do not complain, they stay strong and full of hope and that’s what really struck me about them. I did the Women Are Heroes film because I wanted all their stories to travel around the world.
Women Are Heroes - trailer
In Kibera, Kenya some of your photographs were printed onto vinyl sheets which doubled as watertight roofs. That’s an inspired combination of art with social action – how did you come up with this idea?
JR: In the Kibera slum in Kenya, when we wanted to paste the posters on the roofs, the inhabitants questioned our objectives. And they told us that our paper posters would definitely not stay up in the rain. So we had to come up with another way to paste our portraits. We also saw that many of their houses leaked. We decided to use vinyl, and so we weatherproofed 1800m² of houses with our images. And people kept them whereas we thought maybe the material would disappear. People even consolidated the posters. I went back there again to cover 2000m² in this place. Now we continue our project discreetly, and we hope that we will be able to see the entire slum covered by posters via a satellite. We try to work on a new part each year. We really want to continue this project even if in parallel we are developing others. But it depends on the place, and the meetings.
Everywhere we go, the message and the work we do, and the impact, is different and received differently by the people. In Kibera, the idea of doing a “social project” was not our aim, but the community supported the project because it was also useful to them and gave another perspective on them and their village.
“Women Are Heroes, Kibera 2008”
How do you go about connecting with the communities when you start a new project? How do they react to the idea and to the finished work?
JR: When you go to Providência, which is one of the most dangerous favelas in Rio, there is no NGO, no institution. Drug trafficking is huge. So, there is no reason for people to go to a place like that and create an artistic project. We were able to do this project just because the community had its own interest in its success. Because we arrived without any sponsors or political objectives, people always received us with open arms. They are happy to see another approach, and not a journalistic one - an approach where they are actors. These questions are really essential. The local people are conscious of their image. Their interest is to change the image we have of the favelas, to bring attention to them for something other than the drug traffic. And me…I want to continue my project, raise questions about the place of women in society. With the project done, I leave the country and I hope a bridge has been created between these people and the media. It is the testimonials of these people, their stories and their words, that are much more compelling than anything I can say. Each place is an unexpected meeting that continues. Sometimes I see people again when I come back to follow up an action and continue a project.
“Morro Da Providencia, Rio de Janeiro, 2009”
You opened a community centre in Rio – Casa Amarela – how did that come about and what is happening there?
JR: What I’m interested in is bringing art to unlikely places, working with communities, but it also has to make a difference. La Casa Amarela is a house in the Morro da Providência favela we covered with posters at a time when clashes between the drug dealers and the police were at a height. I wanted there to always be an open door into culture and for the project to continue even after the street posters. Today the centre is running, this house is the only cultural place in this favela and there are different projects there like photography courses, video workshops, legal advice, etc…
How do you feel about winning the TED Prize 2011?
JR: It is interesting to see how art is invading the streets: some barriers have been abolished. Artists go out of galleries and museums and use the urban space. The fact that TED recognizes my vision is an honour but it is also going to allow me to take a new step. I will have the possibility to cross even more barriers. TED's vision is close to mine actually. I have never asked for authorization, it has always been the people that allow me to do what I do. TED’s main strength is its community. That is why we will push limits together, combine our forces. It is as if they were coming with their huge team to help us pasting. Until now, I was going all over the world with my small crew. Now I have to decide and think how I can involve two million people to do something great.
I had heard about the TED Prize for many years, but I'd never had the chance to participate at one of their conferences – I’ve watched them online. It is very interesting to see how people want to change things, change the vision we have of the world.
This collaboration with TED makes me want to try something new. I have always self-financed my projects by selling artwork in galleries and I have never accepted to associate brands with my work.
The way I am going to formulate my project for the TED Prize in the coming months will be decisive.
Future projects?
JR: Thinking of my “wish” for TED takes up most of my time for now…!
.jpg)
JR’s wish will be announced at TED2011 in Long Beach, California, at the end of February.
The Women Are Heroes film is released in France, January 2011
Jody Gillett
// ALSO
- On the crimes of a state
- Edouard Glissant
- Inside Out Tunisia
- Aged 16 – 25? Fed up with the injustices around you? Shake!
- International Women’s Day
- Womex !
- Rio de Janeiro, Rio - The art of transformation
- Kenyan Connections, K’Naan in Kibera
- Maisha Film Lab, Kampala’s African Film Festival
// ALL JR'S INTERVIEWS
Eyes Open
20/01/2011
// LINKS
RELATED ARTISTS
>> Mellino des Négresses Vertes
>> Fawzy Al-Aiedy
>> Christian Poveda
>> Serge Gainsbourg
>> Didier Labbé Quartet
REPORTS
// POST A COMMENT
Security code
Nickname *
Your comment (2000 char. max) *
>> comment it on the forum>>
Les blogs
Mondomix
Puglia Sounds
It will be the window of Puglia Sounds in France and in all Europe. This blog will show all the i...
AFRO by SOUL
Africa is the future and the future is now…as the prophecy unfolds Eric Soul is as always ahead o...
The Center for Black Music
The Center for Black Music in Salvador, Bahia, and the International Exhibition of Black Music in...
Charlie Gillett
Charlie Gillett was one of the UK's leading World Music journalists. For years he presented a wee...
Mondomix - The essential online resource for worldwide music and culture. Music, cinema, literature, society, travel, events, reports, artists. Experience the world with Mondomix.
