In response to Jack Persekian’s work, I wondered how far the limits of expression could go in retaliation against injustices without leading to action taken against the artist. I stumbled across the work of artist, JR, who is the recent winner of the TED prize 2011. In the following video, you can see the different areas of the world where JR installs extremely large photographs of people on buildings, houses, roofs, etc. These images portray the very essence of what it means to be human, even in spite of the destruction that surrounds us. In the case of Israel and Palestine – JR put images of Israelis and Palestinians side by side, highlighting the similarities between the two people, rather than constantly showing the differences and each groups individual plight.
JR explains the ease of placing the images in Jerusalem and along the separation wall: “…And you know what, we thought that we would be kidnapped, that we would be arrested, that we would be evicted, and we just came back with sunburns!”
The artwork makes a statement, but does not attack any group or affiliation.
JR – 28 millimeters project – TEDprize winner
