JR

JR. That's about it. All I can say is that as soon as I saw his work in a magazine recently I was amazed. at first I thought his work was digitally done and did not exist as I saw it but I was wrong. Hes a pseudo-activist criminal photographer anonymous. He originally started out by finding a camera on the subway. He goes by JR because much of the work he does is illegal. He started with regular prints and was not interested in them, and realized he could make huge black and white prints in a cost effective way. He then goes out at night alone or with friends and "installs" these works. The majority of pieces are installed in high traffic public areas. The majority of images he uses are head shots or segments of the face. He uses these abrupt images to make a social commentary.

Some of his most awe inspiring work is the large faces he did on the Apartheid Wall called face 2 face, in addition to an image series using women's eyes on slum houses in Rio de Janiero, as well as women and children faces in Kenya. The Kenya installation makes a giant face divided up and posted on the roofs of the slum shacks, that get completed when a train with the rest of the face posted on it passes through.

In the Rio installation, he stayed in this favela, which is known for horrible murder and is run by guerillas, and interviewed and photographed the women, as they told their stories of hard lives and desire to live. Then he posted faces and eyes of these women on the house sides. When you view the acending favela from ground level your eyes are met with the stares of dozens of hardened and burdened eyes.

His work is so intense and amazing that I can say as of right now, he is my favorite photographer.



cool beans