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| All eyes on Rio |
| Written by Anandhi Gopinath | |||
| Tuesday, 30 June 2009 13:49 | |||
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Such beauty and charm cannot escape ugliness, however. Rio is known as one of the most violent cities in the world, with much of the crime concentrating in shanty towns, called favelas, which are scattered across the city. Gang activities and drug trafficking are so rife that the police can do little to contain it. Shootings are frequent and deaths of innocent young people are much too common; they die without a voice pronouncing their blamelessness, their eyes closed forever to the world that they never had the chance to reach. Today, from the favelas of Rio, their families see through them. Last year, a unique project exploded in Rio as images of piercing eyes were plastered onto the favelas in the area of Providencia. Twenty-five-year-old French photographer JR was drawn to Providencia following the controversial deaths of three young men  amid alleged collusion between Brazilian soldiers and a drugs gang. The unique art installation that followed was from JR’s vision that the dead needed to see and be seen. The next phase of this installation, which kicked in this year, evolved to more telling images on even larger structures — women from the community were immortalised in beautifully taken black and white images, and are emblazoned onto walls, rooftops and vehicles all over Providencia.The images of the women came from JR’s Women are Heroes project, where he highlighted the challenges and violence faced by women in troubled countries across the world, from Sierra Leone and Cambodia to Brazil, Morocco and India. Armed with a 28mm camera, JR captured the faces, smiles, frowns and frustrations of women the world over, and uses these images to create an open-air exhibition in the women’s own communities. In Rio, apart from an exhibition at the Casa França-Brasil cultural centre, the images JR captured are now key parts of Providencia’s landscape. There are many facets to JR’s work, all strongly anchored in his desire to genuinely make the art part of the community. In terms of the physical installation, JR involved youth in the community to assist him in putting up the images. In an interview on bbc.com, he says, “I am more of a wallpaper guy than I am a photographer, I took more time pasting them than actually taking photos. So, the work is really about pasting them in places where they make sense.” That is yet another huge aspect. The Arcos de Lapa is one of Providencia’s most popular landmarks, and its aging whitewashed walls now feature the haunting faces of the women from the area. “I started the project in the community of Providencia, and the fact that today, portraits of the women in the community are holding up the arch is a powerful symbol to me,” says JR. The video interview on bbc.com also features excerpts from some of the women in Providencia, many of whom would never have made it to the cultural centre that housed JR’s exhibition. In exchange for taking their pictures, JR had given these women and their families an opportunity they never knew they would have. Empowering these communities with hope is the biggest take away from the project, as is the way JR did it: involving members of the community from beginning to end ensured it wasn’t just about stealing their images and leaving. “Federating people in the project was the most ambitious part,” says JR. “Pasting photos and things, that is easy, but the humanity that was exchanged is what people will remember. It’s important that this is a long-term project. So, I start small and I hope it will become bigger.” This article appeared on the Live it! page, The Edge Financial Daily, June 30, 2009.
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