On September 20, 2013, after not hearing from me for a week, those on Facebook saw a post saying I’d been to an art opening. The description, buried in the comments, said this was “a global participatory art project with the potential to change the world.” Heady stuff. So, on September 23, I headed downtown again, willing to participate and learn more.

What I saw that Monday on Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati and at Cincinnati’s  Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) three days before, was the lifting up of absolutely everyone, the celebration of our uniqueness, and the claiming of our power to be bigger than ourselves. And having fun doing it —all with the simple tools of paper and glue!

As a young man the French artist JR and his friends challenged the law by writing their names in out of the way places on the rooftops of Paris. After finding a 28 mm camera in the subway, JR photographed others doing this graffiti and and claimed these photographs as art by posting the images on walls around the city with frames drawn around them. This became his first public exhibition known as Expo2Rue (Sidewalk Gallery).

The streets are the biggest art gallery in the world! JR’s story has a lot to do with meeting people within the uniqueness of where they are. It began with his taking pictures and posting them in the poorer areas of Paris. During the violence of the 2005 riots in those areas, JR recognized some of his pictures still on the walls. “I know those guys.” So he then searched for and found some of them and again took pictures of them looking appropriately tough (although I think only one of them pulled it off, and as the project progressed, JR’s humor becomes evident). JR then posted posters of these photos in more bourgeois districts. He also gave them a voice. In the CAC exhibit these pictures are displayed with a statement from each individual photographed. As illegal art it sort of failed because Paris decided to wrap the prints around city hall. But that began JR’s pattern of inspiring, making visible, and collaborating with the people he meets.

From those roots JR has continued doing “impossible” projects. The conflict between Palestine and Israel is intense. It would be impossible to wander and work across the lines, or so he was told. So of course in 2006 and 2007, he and a friend visited both sides of the conflict. What they realized is that everyone does the same jobs and they pretty much look the same too. And thus began the biggest illegal art exhibit in the world: Face 2 Face.  With his subjects’ permission JR took pictures of people such as cab drivers, lawyers, and cooks, and pasted one from each side next to each other in eight cities on both sides. “What are you doing?,” he was asked. “Art,” he answered. “Who are they?” “They’re taxi drivers. One’s Israeli, one  Palestinian.” “Why are you posting a picture of a Palestinian here!” “It’s art.” [pause] “Do you know which is which?”

A more recent example is the project Women Are Heroes, which is designed to underscore how women are the strength of a community, while men get the attention. Targeted for places with “zero museums,” he visited areas such as one of the poorer slums of Nairobi and engaged with the people. There pictures of women are printed on vinyl and are used to roof the homes where they live. This project was so popular they go back every year to expand it. Another destination was a drug cartel’s “favela” [slum] in Rio de Janeiro where three boys were “arrested” by the army and taken to another favela where they were literally cut to pieces. After JR and his friend assured the drug lords that they were interested in only art and in the daily life of the favela, they interviewed and pasted pictures which were out of reach of the media since they didn’t dare enter but could see the prints in the distance. But one picture was not visible from a distance: a picture of the grandmother of one of the boys who was killed, which is pasted on the steps where the arrest happened and where other violence is common. JR also promised the women that he would share their stories with the rest of the world.

In 2011, JR was awarded the TED Prize “to change the world.” TED Prize winners are given “$1 million to inspire dreamers to think bigger about what’s possible. The award offers support to build a project’s core infrastructure quickly—so that others can add their own collaborative action.”

Upon receiving this prize JR asked, “Could art change the world?” Those who hear his story are sure the answer is “yes.” For this challenge, he created the Inside Out project. Inside Out offers to print poster sized head shots of those who want to make a statement on a cause they believe in. (“You take the picture, you paste it.”) As part of this project photobooth trucks were built. People get their picture taken in the small booth in the truck and the large poster is printed out the side for ready pasting.

JR’s team took the photobooth to Israel and Palestine where thousands participated, each signing a statement supporting a two-state solution for peace.  On one side of the conflict they used the photos for protest signs carried in a huge march. On the other, people plastered the posters in the streets and wrapped buildings with them. In his 2012 report on the TED prize, JR said, “Don’t tell me they’re not ready for peace out there.”

It’s with the photobooth that I connected. It makes people visible. It’s art “with no credit, no logo, no sponsoring.” It started with people participating in the photobooth at the CAC exhibit opening, which is JR’s first solo U.S. museum exhibition. Photos were pasted on the huge white walls of the museum forming a quilt of, well, people! The line was long that night. I was curious about participation away from the museum so I showed up on Monday on Fountain Square in the center of downtown Cincinnati. There even the time spent the line was interesting. As helpers moved down the line with their iPads getting photo releases, they spent all the time needed to help those unsure about what was going on or the electronically challenged. “You should do this too, not just your friend. You’re beautiful,” they said, convincing onlookers to participate.

Until a rain shower two weeks later (paper and glue are temporary!), I was part Fountain Square. And am still on the projects website. And I’m here, too.

Every person is important and visible. Every person has a story. Everyone is part of something bigger than themselves, but unique in themselves at the same time. Inside Out.

This looks like art. This sounds like changing the world

All photos by Spirit Moxie
from the top:
JR pasting during the CAC art opening
The 28 mm camera JR found on a Paris subway
“Local urban youths” – Portrait of a Generation
Two images from Face 2 Face
A video showing a train with eyes passing over the lower faces
The rooftops of Kibera
A public stairway in Moro de Providencia
Me outside the photobooth truck
The line
Fountain Square (2 photos)
Hidden art at CAC (JR still likes roofs….)