JR is an artist who is in equal measures, a photographer and a graffiti artist. By fly posting black and white photographic images in public locations such as buildings, he states that the street is “the largest art gallery in the world. Initially beginning his career as a teenage graffiti artist on the streets of Paris, he found a camera in the Paris Metro, and started documenting the art of his graffiti painting. This led to him to begin applying photocopies of these photographs to outdoor walls. JR calls himself an “urban activist,” and pastes large photographs onto buildings in the projects of Paris, walls of the Middle East, on the favelas in Brazil, or broken bridges of Africa. These mesmerizing photographs, at that scale, highlight the dignity and bravery of people who reside in areas of poverty and areas of conflict. His work has received critical acclaim from the media, with Le Monde newspaper describing his work as “revealing humanity”, and from fellow graffiti artist Shepard Fairey, who stated JR is “the most ambitious street artist working.
Can you tell us a little bit about your roots?
I was born and raised in Paris and I spent a lot of time doing graffiti with my friends, exploring rooftops and subway tunnels, making my mark in intimate spaces.
How old were you when you started doing street art? Were you aware of it being art?
I started making work around 17. I was aware that it was relative to art but at the same time, my methods weren’t conventional to the art world. I didn’t really start making portfolios of my work. I never approached galleries with my photographs. I thought I might as well take it directly to the viewer; therefore the streets.
What about photography, when did it start for you?
Well, I got involved in making artwork in 1999 when I found a flash camera in the subway and began documenting my surroundings: that of the graffiti world.
Who has a major influence on you?
When I began to get more and more involved in street art, I was inspired of course by Banksy and others like Blu, Os Gemeos, ZEVS…
You are raising questions and awareness between space and its habitants and how its affects one another. That wish surely comes from a story within. Can you share what makes you do what you do?
My first project was a big push in that direction of location and identity/inhabitant: Portrait of a Generation. This project was to challenge the stereotype of those who live in the projects outside of Paris. I took their simple black and white portraits and pasted them in the heart of the Paris Bourgeoisie. The first portraits are displayed on the walls of the last popular neighborhoods of the capital, in Eastern Paris.These images challenge the passer-by, in the sense that they question the social and media representation of a generation.
How did you come up with the project “The Wrinkles of the City”? What is the biggest pursue behind it?
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, are illuminated. The first project came to life in Cartagena, Spain. The oldest inhabitants of this Spanish town are pasted on the heights of the city. Faces of men that suffered from the civil war stand on the historical facades.
Are you, yourself, easily able to let go of the past?
I am inspired by nostalgia but I always look in front of me.
What is your most unforgettable memory about “The Wrinkles of the City”?
Pasting portraits of anonymous people in Cuba on the walls of a city that has only seen portraits of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara… people couldn’t believe it…
What story, out of everyone you met during the project, inspired you the most?
I never have a favorite story, what inspires me the most is the entire journey to build my projects…because every step is a huge part of the adventure..
You are anonymous by name and yet you are one of the artists who connects most with people, whether via your projects, on the streets or via your website. What is so important about the connection to you?
Yes, I don’t think that it is I who connects with the people, but my work. My projects are obviously never about myself but about the history of a civilization in shift, and a restoration, or a proclamation rather, of identity. What is most important is that the project belongs to the people. I cannot even begin a project without the participation of the civilians. After all, the city is theirs not mine, the history is their own, and it is their face that will go up on the wall. Once I leave, the work belongs to the people, they can tear it down if they see fit. Once I am able to connect person to person with the people, the most important connection is between the people and the work.
What do wrinkles symbolizes to you?
A history. Life.
I ask the same questions to my subjects. Some said that they are “a story of raising a family, of tribulations, of good times, bad times, frustration.” One woman from Los Angeles claims, that she wishes she had more wrinkles; she “wishes she had more of her life story that showed on her face.
What is your main social message to everyone who is looking up to your art? = Make Art, the rest always follows… I never put a social message behind my work…the people do it, i just try to involve as many people as possible.
How do you find time to accomplish such major projects between your constant travels?
From my experience, you have to take things 1 day at a time. You can plan projects and try to work with everyone you wish to work with, but the things that are meant to be fall into place. In the end, everything will work out. That is kind of our motto at the studio: Ca va bien se passer.
You collaborated on “The Wrinkles of the City” Havana with the artist Jose Parla, can you walk us through your collaboration?
In May 2012, I collaborated with José Parlá on The Wrinkles of the City: a huge mural installation in Havana, undertaken for the Havana Biennale, for which I and Parlá photographed and recorded 25 senior citizens who had lived through the Cuban revolution, creating portraits which Parlá, who is of Cuban descent, interlaced with palimpsestic calligraphic writings and paintings. I found Parlá’s markings echo the distressed surfaces of the walls he inscribes, and offer commentary on the lives of Cuba’s elders.
You came to the Istanbul International Arts & Culture Festival – IST. Festival this summer of 2014. Can you tell us about your first impressions of the city?
I only spent a day but it got me right away.. and that’s why I’m on my way back already.
Your final stop for “The Wrinkles of the city” will be Istanbul! Can you tell us how you got to make the decision?
I wanted a city at the border of Europe and Asia to complete the project and Istanbul is the place.
How do you choose your walls and the people?
Most of my projects unfold in a similar way. I take several trips to the location before the pasting ever begins where I take the time to get to know the city and the people first hand. I walk through the streets and simply talk with everyone I run into. Walls are either donated or my team and myself scout them depending on their placement in the city or town.
What does the streets of Istanbul signify to you, what comes out of them and what will you try to communicate within them and its people?
I’ll be able to tell you when I’ll get on with the project because everything happens in the streets; it’s always the best experience to discover a city and its people! I can’t wait!!!