Inside Out Project Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Jan 28 2010

Location: 

Worldwide

JR called for the creation of a global art project - the Inside Out Project - inspired by his large‐format street “pastings.” The concept of the project is to give everyone the opportunity to share their portrait and a statement of what they stand for, with the world. IOP provides individuals and groups from all corners of the globe with a vehicle to make a statement. Anyone can participate, and is challenged to use photographic portraits to share the untold stories and images of people in their communities.

Their actions are documented, archived and exhibited online at www.insideoutproject.net. Over 100,000 posters have been sent in more than 108 countries since March 2011.

Part of the project, the Inside Out Photobooths bring the printers and the project to the street -- enabling the public to participate instantly and free of charge. Tens of thousands of portraits have been printed at Photobooths located around the world in such locations as Centre Pompidou (Paris), Les Rencontres de la Photographie (Arles), various towns in Israel and Palestine, Emirati Expressions (Abu Dhabi), and Galerie Perrotin (Paris).

In 2010, JR brings The Wrinkles of the City to Shanghai. This project provides a unique opportunity for us to read all about the stories of these people’s lives, see all their portraits and above all, the pasting done by JR. For memory can stumble and fall, disappear any minute as the elderly leave us, JR shows us that its important not to forget what the elderly have to pass to the young ones.

Without judging, JR provides us a poetic, social and above all human way. As the artist puts it himself:” Change the way people see the world, is already a way to making things change…

The Wrinkles of the City is a world-scale project aimed to be presented in various cities around the world where “wrinkles”, human as well as architectural, can be found.

So far, JR has pasted The Wrinkles of the City in Cartagena, Spain (2008), in Shanghai, China (2010), Los Angeles, USA (2011) and La Habana, Cuba (2012), in collaboration with US artist José Parlá. In Spanish, the project is entitled Los Surcos de la Ciudad.

JR also showcased in Mexico. Juarez is currently considered to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world. JR's objective is to show the other side of the city, the one we don't see in the media. The people living in Juarez continue their lives despite the violence.

In Georgetown, Guyana, the portraits are painted with the eyes of Guyanese children that have witnessed violent acts against their mothers, sisters, and/or themselves.

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