JR Face to Face street art - Essay Example

?JR FACE TO FACE STREET ART JR Face to Face Street Art Street artist JR was a French national born in 22 February 1983. His major works include street art, photography and graffiti. On October 20, 2010, he won the TED prize of 2011 which is awarded to individuals who have performed exemplary in their struggle to change the world. On top of the title, the winner receives $100,000. Personally, he describes himself as a “photograffeur”. He chooses to fly post large black and white photographic images strategically placing them in public locations especially in buildings. JR believes that the street is the largest art gallery in the world. Starting his art career from the streets of Paris, the work of JR has often challenges the wide perceptions of images propagated by advertising channels and the media. He seeks to combine art and action dealing with commitment as well as identity and limits. He has been described differently by different people.  Fabrice Bousteau introduces him as the figure already being regarded as Cartier-Bresson of the 21st century. He began his art career as a teenage graffiti artist who was pulled by the passion and interested in making a mark in the society rather than the interest of changing the world. His work then targeted conspicuous places like rooftops, subways, train and sidewalks and framed them so that they would not be confused with advertising. At the age of 17, he and his friends after finding a camera begun taking photographs and pated them on walls in a bid to send certain messages to the people. His biggest intention of doing art in a large scale was basically to influence people to change the world. The particularly aimed at changing the perceptions of the people and their thoughts in order to create a better society, which people are mindful of one another. Without any payment, JR and his friends started out in different cities around the world taking photographs and pasting them on building walls1. In the period between 2004 and 2006, he created what is commonly referred to as the portrait of a generation, a project that included young people who were included in the housing program. In large format, he pasted these pictures in large format of walls of houses and commercial buildings in order to bring art closer to the people who do not visit the museums. Initially, it was deemed illegal, but was later legalized and when the City of Paris put his photos on buildings2. Project face to face was meant to bring the true identity of the true Israelis and Palestinians by putting photos of different people face to face. In eight cities of Palestine and Israel, Marco and JR took the initiative of painting the pictures. While some of the people opposed the move especially the authorities, most of them were excited and supported their work. They volunteered to be photographed and allowed them to paste their pictures anywhere they wanted. In the project, they were constrained with resources. They had no money, and relied heavily on well-wishers3. They got two ladders, which were very old and rusty, a single camera and 20,000 feet of paper. The project however was a big success. They managed to photograph different kinds of people who did different kinds of work. From taxi drivers to cooks, carpenters and teachers, they sought to include all kinds of people in any profession. At one point they put two photographs of a Palestinian and an Israeli and asked people to tell the difference of who was who. By drawing reference to two photographs from the project, this paper will look at the face to face project, comparing them using their similarities and differences and try to evaluate the impact they had on the people. More importantly however, it will seek to answer the question as to whether JR and his six friends succeeded in their mission. Were they successful in proving that what is perceived to be impossible could be possible? During the whole project, JR and his friends were dedicated to prove to the world that all people were similar regardless of their race and tribe. They wanted to show that through pictures, the world could be changed. Through their efforts, they managed to send different messages to the world and especially the face to face project. Their efforts of showing the differences and similarities between the two tribes of Israeli and Palestinian were successful due to the reception that they received from the public and the government. Two of the pictures from the project are of two men put adjacent to each other. Their faces are clearly seen through the black and white paper. There are a number of differences evident from the two pictures. While one of the men (one on the left) is smiling, the other man is in a funny face. The man on the left picture has a grey beard while the other has a black one. A closer look at the pictures reveals the headgears downed by the two men. Both choose to look at the camera differently, with one of the men opening his eyes wide open and directly looking at the camera. The other man chooses to draw his eyes close to one another. Their dressing is too different as the man on the right is in what can be seen as a coat or a trench coat while the man on the left is in a cardigan. The differences between the two pictures clearly relates to the reason why JR and his friends decided to start and run the face to face project4. A person, either of Israeli or Palestinian origin can easily identify which of the faces belongs to their tribe. This is likely to end any animosity between the two tribes, seeing that despite the colour that they have, everything else is similar. Despite the differences in the photos, there are a number of similarities too. Both the men are light in complexion. Although the picture is in black and white, it is easy to tell that the colour of the men was light. Both of the men have long beards that are perhaps given a little attention. Their form of dressing could be different, probably as a reason of the differences in their professions, but it is definite that they both have dressed casually. They have headgears too, although they are of different types. Both men have happy faces as none of them seems to don a frowning or a sad face. This shows that both men are similar in everything, apart from their origins or culture. They have all their organs intact, from the nose to mouthy and eyes. The impact of this is that the people are able to realize that they are similar in very many ways and are thus one and the same thing, regardless of their religion or culture. The main theme of the project face to face was to prove to the world that art can significantly change the world. The idea by JR was to find out why the two tribes of Palestinians and the Israelis could not coexist together. There was animosity, hatred, and resentment of one another. The place is a hub of faith as Judaism, Christianity and Muslim are practiced by the local. To make the community in the desert surrounded by lakes and mountains more complicated, there is endless love and hope embedded together. However, the people in the community had numerous similarities between them, with minimal differences. Physically, they looked alike; they spoke the same language and appeared like twin brothers who had been raised in different families5. A closer look at the pictures reveals this similarity. A farmer has his twin brother working as a taxi driver on his side; a doctor has a nurse brother on his front while a religiously covered woman has her twin sister on her side. The irony of this is that they mare both fighting one another. The gallery brings a feeling of guilt. The people are too blind to see that, to the point that they have cultivated a culture of hatred and inculcated fear and tribalism among them. These pictures hit them with the hard reality that they are one and the same person, physically and linguistically. More disturbing, and yet like a coincidence, nature makes them, a photocopy of each other, while geographical setting has deemed them to remain brother and sister. The face to face project, having planted portraits of the brothers and sisters in the most strategic yet unavoidable places in the boarders of the two communities helps them realize this. It brings reality to the audience that the simple meaningless things that we fight about are not worth our efforts and time. They realize that they could achieve more by coexisting mutually and bringing one another closer and referring to one another as brother and sister. These similarities are too starting that they cannot be avoided in whichever way. They will ring in their minds as pictures last for a long time in our minds. JR has achieved quite a lot from his different projects that he has undertaken as a street artist. Not only has he brought different picture and promoted the picture art among the people, he has achieved in the projects. He has managed to change the perceptions of the people in the society through their work. He believes that the first step into changing the world is by changing their perception, which he did with the face to face project. Art can go a long way in changing the lives of people as well as the society. Not only did he receive the TED award of 2011 worth $100,000, he also managed to make a huge impact on the lives of the Palestinians and the Israeli. Successfully, they made the people realize that they were one and the same community, and proved that what is deemed to be impossible is actually possible. Bibliography Face 2 Face; Israel & Palestine. 2007. http://www.jr-art.net/projects/face-2-face Green, J. 2010. Guerilla Street Artist JR Wins TED Prize, The Dirt: Uniting The Built And Natural; Environment. http://dirt.asla.org/2010/10/28/guerilla-street-artist-jr-wins-ted-prize/ TED ideas worth spreading, 2011. “JR: Street artist; why you should listen to him, JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAy1zBtTbw TED prize 2011 awarded to young global artist, JR. 2010. PR Newswire, Oct 20, 2010. http://search.proquest.com/docview/759109182?accountid=45049 (accessed May 16, 2013). TED unveils TED2011 speakers program. 2011. PR Newswire Europe Including UK Disclose (Jan 10), http://search.proquest.com/docview/823289642?accountid=45049 (accessed May 16, 2013). Read More