JR

The issue of borders – and the stories of those who cross them – punctuate JR's artistic commitment. In 2007, he directed Face2Face, a clandestine operation in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities. On both sides of the separation wall, portraits of Israelis and Palestinians face the viewer side by side. In 2014, he turned his focus to Ellis Island, an island close to the Statue of Liberty that was an immigration entry point into the United States. In 2015, he pasted the large-scale silhouette of Elmar, a young man who recently arrived from Azerbaijan, onto the Flatiron Plaza (New York). He placed Kikito, a giant photograph of a toddler, above the wall separating Mexico and the United States in 2017. Today, the Déplacé.e.s series sheds light on the plight of the millions of people who are forced to flee their homes due to persecution, war, violence, and human rights violations. A distinguishing feature of JR's approach is that he never acts alone; the individuals and communities that he honors participate fully in the artistic process. This is also the essential concept behind the Inside Out Project, which he launched after receiving the prestigious Ted Prize in 2011. His idea? Allowing individuals around the world to receive their portraits as large posters to install in a public space in support of an idea, project, or cause. To date, over half a million people in more than 140 countries have participated in Inside Out by creating their own installations or entering one of the gigantic photobooths.

Starting with his first photograph collages in 2004 that displayed large-scale portraits of residents of Seine Saint-Denis (France) on the walls of their city, JR has given an identity to those who are deprived of one. This practice is present in each of his projects, whether it’s by giving voice to farmers from the Alfina plateau in Italy, inmates in a high-security prison in California, residents of a slum in Rio de Janeiro and a shantytown in Kenya, or patrons of a restaurant for the homeless and refugees in Paris. An artist of his time, JR works with new information and communication technologies to multiply the impact of his actions. He uses digital social networks, NFTs, covers of Time magazine, and video frescos, such as his Chronicles mural representing 1,200 residents of San Francisco (SFMOMA). His artistic activity unfolds in diverse forms, including a performance in collaboration with the New York City Ballet, a feature film co-directed with Agnès Varda (nominated for an Oscar), a large-scale installation at the Panthéon in Paris, an anamorphosis on the pyramid at the Louvre, a Diego Rivera-style fresco in the suburbs of Paris, and the installation of “giants” on scaffolding at the Rio Olympics. As the title of the encyclopedic book devoted to all of his artworks, Artist Until I Find a Real Job (2023), proclaims, JR will continue to develop his multitude of artistic projects as long as he has not found a real job!