JR

Location- Intersection of Friendly/Davie St

Description- JR exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not typical museum visitors.JR creates “Pervasive Art” that spreads uninvited on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East, on the broken bridges in Africa or the favelas in Brazil. People who often live with the bare minimum discover something absolutely unnecessary. And they don’t just see it, they make it. Some elderly women become models for a day; some kids turn artists for a week. In that Art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators. As he remains anonymous and doesn’t explain his huge full-frame portraits of people making faces, JR leaves the space empty for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter. That is what JR’s work is about, raising questions.

The Inside Out/ Dreamers Project installation on Friendly Ave is just one installment of an international art project by French artist JR. There are portrait installations like this one in cities around the world and each one invites locals from marginalized communities to participate and tell their stories. Many of the Inside Out Project installations in the United States, like this one in Greensboro, celebrate immigrant voices. The project leaders invited immigrants and descendants of immigrants in Greensboro to come down and get their portrait taken to be featured on the wall. The art project’s purpose is to “remind us that behind the policies are real human stories that are deeply rooted in the story of this country,” www.insideoutproject.net/dreamers.

Photos/Descriptions provided by https://www.kotisstreetart.com