JR (French, b. 1983) is a street artist and photographer who pastes large black-and-white portraits onto buildings, favelas, border fences and walls around the world. Working between Paris and New York, he combines photography, public art and filmmaking, involving the people he photographs directly in each project. He describes his practice as “infiltrating art”, capable of reaching an audience beyond museum visitors.
In 2008 JR began Women Are Heroes, pasting portraits of women from conflict zones onto trucks, buildings and temporary structures, starting in Sierra Leone and continuing in Liberia, Kenya, Cambodia, India, Brazil and France. One photograph, 28 Millimètres, Women are Heroes, Rispah Atemba, Sierra Leone, 2008, shows a smiling woman resting her head on her hands despite the civil war her country had just come through. After receiving the TED Prize in 2011, JR launched Inside Out Project, which invites people worldwide to have their portraits taken and pasted in public spaces in support of a cause.
