Interview with JR

Could you please explain us how did the idea of the "Face 2 Face" project started?

It could have been only a book, why these massive posters on the street also ?
In March 2007, together with Marco, I did Face 2 Face, the biggest illegal photo exhibition ever: eight Palestinian and Israeli cities, and the Separation wall / Security fence on both sides (on 23 feet high and 170 feet long).
We posted my huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians face to face. The experts said that people will refuse to make faces to be posted on the walls and that the Palestinian police, the Israeli army or the extremists will stop them. It didn't happen that way and they have posted more than 15,000 square foots of portraits without major troubles. Through this project, I showed that Art can break the limits of possible. Art is an excuse to "get out of ourselves".
With a 28 millimetre lens, portraits of people doing faces, huge posters and anonymity, the photographer does not give interpretations and leaves the space empty for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter.
The real surprise is not to be surprised by something surprising. Such a situation is not surprising. The real surprise is to be surprised by something which is not surprising by itself, such as yourself, your neighbour or your enemy. By the surprise and the question it raises, man can revisit his thinking habits and free himself from stereotypes and prejudice.
That s what I am working on. Raising questions …



What's your background and why the name JR?

I am autodidact in art and photography, I needed some option to get point for my highschool diplome so I took art through photography and cinema...
Coming from a graffiti background It was logic since my first photos to put them in the street...
I kept my initial as pasting in the street is still seen as a crime in most of the countries... There is also no need to know more about my private life or anything that doesnt bring something to my art.
It s also much easier to travel in countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, SOudan or the middle east when they dont know your name at the border...



How would you define your work and your very personal approach?

People in the street will have better word to define my work it definitly mixes Art and Act, it talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit.
On my 28 millimetres project, people are actor of the photo, they are part of the process but the final photo is the one of you in front of the gigantic photo in situation !



Why black and white?

Black and white brake with advertising code, it s cheaper also...



How is your relation with the street art scene as your medium is very different compared to other artists ?

Unfortunatly today everyone wants to use the street as a medium but only few artist are making it relevant...
Of course the street is a srtong medium but when you add the time, the location, the message... it become much more interesting...



Talking about the collage you recently did near the "centre pompidou" in paris for example.
Can you tell us your process and how you technically set up this kind of work?
Do you have authorizations ?

For huge installation in european cities I have autorization or sometime a crane so big that it look like I have one...
For Paris I had autorisation to do what I am use to do illegaly but in larger format which is paradoxal in my hometown where I have many justice cases for illegal pasting..
For this wall in front of beabourg we did it in 2 days, one day the buttom which 34 stripes of 5 meter high each and 90 cm large and then the next day with a crane we did the other 18 meter to make it 23 meter high...
The machine was too heavy to be on the ground in front of the wall so we had to do it from the street close by and use a longer arm on the crane.
When I do exhibition like this piece in front of beaubourg it s always after a real action somewhere around the globe where it had sens to do it illegaly like in the middle east where I didn t wanted to have a government permission so the project stays neutral.



What kind of material do you use for your pictures? Digital camera?

I use films for the portraits I do or pics I take to past in the street and then I photograph the action in digital.. but sometime I past the photo of the photo... so..



What is the piece you are the most proud of?

I think I am like each I am doing because I always choose the space I want and do everything I can to get it, and most of the time it s without autorisation... if I have waited for autorisation on each piece I did I would still be pasting A4 format with tapes !



What's coming next ? Any new project?

The project I am working on now, the 3rd part of 28 millimetres : http://www.womenareheroes.be is a 1 year and a half project where I started recently in SIerra Leone, Liberia, South SOudan and Kenya. I want to bring the project to India or south America and the final result will be a documentary because in the places where I am going to past sometime the only witness of the action is the camera...



JR's website is at http://JR-ART.NET