28 Millimètres /Women Are Heroes Project - Action in the Favela Morro da Providência, daytime, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2008

“Art belongs to the people” is the mantra and deeply-held belief of the prolific photographer known simply as JR. Arguably, that could be the ideology of all graffiti and street artists. However, I know of no one who embodies that more passionately, energetically and honestly. The film introduces JR’s evolution from graffiti tagger, to guerilla photographer, stealthily pasting poster-sized portraits on whatever surfaces were available.

Usually unauthorized and often hard to access safely, the process has an element of urgency and audacity. But there is purpose in all his work. JR is a great, open-hearted humanitarian.

He is committed to shining light on the unloved, the forgotten, the feared, and elevating the ordinary people who are often so invisible to large swaths of the population, by recording their images.

Sometimes the portraits were pasted in the communities of the subjects as a way of recognizing the individuals in a group. At other times the portraits of people all ages, races, gender and social class were often placed in unrelated neighborhoods surprising passersby and causing them to see faces that might be unfamiliar, outside their bubble. The idea is to provoke and inspire some new, more inclusive thinking. His new projects go way further by involving his subjects, usually an entire community, in the process. They are the subjects, actively participating installers, and the beneficiaries. He leaves it all behind. Only nature and time take it away.

Aerial view of an installation by JR at a prison in Tehachapi, California.Courtesy JR.

We see the inevitable end of one of his projects in the slums in Montermeil, Les Bosquets”85” where his friend and fellow artist Ladj Ly grew up. This a place that got the JR treatment some years past and the final demolition is the inevitable natural death of it.

The project in the high security prison in Tehachapi, California illustrates how this eccentric French street artist convinces hardened inmates and prison authorities to allow him to do the monumental group portrait of the inmates looking skyward from the concrete prison yard. It is a stunning image and caused a lot of change for the better in the prison population, who began to see each other with new eyes.

Equally audacious was papering Morrow da Providencia, one of Brazil’s most notorious favelas. Fascinating details of the process involve Rosiete, the unofficial person with the most influence, to negotiate with the gangs to cease and desist from violence while the project was in progress. It allowed for people to participate communally and safely and for outsiders to venture inside. My favorite, and probably best-known one in the US, is the huge image of the Mexican baby, Kikito, peeking over Donald Trump’s border wall. It made the front page of many US newspapers.

Artist JR filming the documentary *Paper & Glue*.Photo by Marc Azoulay.

There is nothing that is not admirable about this guy, in my opinion. As his work grows in scope and is allowed in public spaces like the Louvre pyramid, as well as inside museums,

like the Brooklyn Museum, he is still careful from whom he will accept funding, that it must not be incompatible with his mission. He is committed to creating a better world through art and there is ample evidence that he is causing that to happen. He continues his involvement with the communities with whom he has worked, by starting and supporting schools and other forms of involvement. He is possessed with such a contagious sense of optimism and fun, and such an enlightened point of view which is utterly uplifting.

I could not recommend this more. It should be required viewing.