From The Wrinkles of the City series, Shanghai, China
From the Women are Heroes series, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
From the Women are Heroes series, Slum of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya
From the Women are Heroes series, Slum of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya
From the Women are Heroes series, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
From the Women are Heroes series, Favela Morro Da Providencia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
From the Women are Heroes series, Favela Morro Da Providencia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
From the Women are Heroes series, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Did you hear that 2011's TED prize recipient was chosen to be JR, the first visual artist to have won? I wonder if he's also the first TED prize whose work most always involves breaking the law? (it was funny to hear a Parisian state official interviewed saying something to the effect of, "Of course it beautiful, of course it's poignant, but he has no permit") And I wonder how he will give his talk and make his wish as an anonymous street artist? It will be interesting to see, won't it? What I would love to see would be the people who collaborated with him, all over the world, people who became his models and later graced the sides of 5 story buildings or became the eyes on moving trains that periodically met faces on mountaintops, get up and tell their stories and make their wishes. I think that would be the best fit for his work, where the beauty and strength comes from often ignored dignity, now visually shouted from tops of mountains and throughout town squares. Thank you, JR, for noticing such dignity and translating the heroes you met through your photographs and placement in a such a breath-taking way that the world can now also see.
For a little background on his Women are Heroes project, this video is tragic beyond words, truthfully intense and deeply beautiful....
http://vimeo.com/15686678