JR started exploring his artistic side when he was a teenager. And he has been at it ever since. Recently he spoke with Do Something about the importance of art in a young person’s life in general and arts education specifically.
Do Something is currently running a campaign, Make Art, Save Art, aimed at mobilizing young artists across the US to advocate for the arts by submitting artwork and testimonials on the importance of arts education. The top 10 artists with the most shares through social media networks are entered into a finalist pool, and one artist will be selected by a panel of expert judges. The winner will receive a $5,000 grant for their school art program and a $1,000 college scholarship.
Earlier this year JOANA SOARES, ANA SANTOS and MAFALDA JACINTO organized a group action in Lisbon, Portugal. We interviewed them to gain insight into their process and experience. Interview was edited by author for grammar.
IOP: Was this your first foray into exhibiting your art on the street?
JS, AS, & MJ: Yes, it was.
What was the pasting experience like for your team?
It was a very fullfiling experience for each one of us. We felt we were doing something different and very bold, outrageous. For instance, all of the places we’ve decided to paste the posters were non-authorized places, so we pasted them during the night, and we always felt some kind of rush while pasting them; we were afraid to get caught. But that’s also what made the whole experience worthwhile. At the end we were just so proud for our endless effort, and its recognition.
What inspired you to get involved in the Inside Out Project?
One of our group members already knew about JR’s art, and she showed us a couple of videos of his art work. Upon seeing his speech at TED, the idea of following the Inside Out Project just seemed to pop up automatically. First we just wanted to work on a project to present to an university subject: we thought about presenting JR’s art to our class, not doing it ourselves. But the moment the idea came up, of pasting ourselves in photos on the streets, we got so excited. We couldn’t let the idea go. And that’s how we’ve managed to succeed.
How did you determine what statement to make?
We decided very easily what we wanted to paste in the streets. It had to be a common and actual social problem in Portugal. Therefore we thought about poverty, a very evident social reality in Lisbon. We have a lot of homeless people in Lisbon for several reasons: some because of drug addiction, others because of mental problems, others because of alcohol, others just because they want to live in the streets, and some because they really donʼt have anywhere else to go. Either way, our statement meant essentially that most people tend to ignore the presence of homeless people in the streets. They don’t look. They turn their faces away, “If I don’t see them, they don’t exist, so I don’t have to give them money.”
With their pictures in the streets people would be forced to see them and to see them just like a normal human being (to many of the homeless people, we asked them to make silly faces, just like JR did). Ultimately we wanted to call attention to the lack of social systems capable of dealing with poverty and homeless reality.
How did you recruit people to participate?
Before starting the field work we selected a zone of Lisbon where we could find a lot of homeless people and beggars in the street. Then we went there and gently talked to them and asked them to participate in our project. Surprisingly their feedback was really good and their collaboration was immediate. At first our photographer was afraid to come close enough to take the close-up photographs of their faces. But soon we realized that they easily joined the fun and grimaced for the camera.
Did it take a lot of time and effort to find the right walls? To get permission?
No, it didnʼt. Right away, we decided to use the walls of our faculty/university because our project was inserted in faculty work. Secondly, we thought of pasting in downtown Lisbon, on one of the busiest avenues of Lisbon, the “Avenida da Liberdade”. We didnʼt ask for permission to use any of the walls we used because we knew it would not be that easy and also because we wanted to catch people by surprise, even our teachers and colleagues.
What was the community’s reaction to your action?
In general the communityʼs reaction was good. Most people stopped walking and stared at the pictures at least for a few seconds. Some others didnʼt even look. But we think that it was a minority. We were attentive to the communityʼs reaction and recorded it with our camera lenses. This element was in fact a major part of our project/study. We went to the people that looked at our photos and asked them why they had looked, what they thought about those photos… Almost everyone said that those types of photographs – close-up faces in black and white, with a small inscription with homeless peopleʼs name and the number of years in the streets – forced people to look and pay attention to those social issues.
What conversation do you hope results from your group action?
The expectations concerning this action were partially fulfilled. As we didnʼt have much money we made artisanal glue and printed the low quality photos to be less expensive. There were some complications with some of the glue we made, which produced a slightly opaque layer over the photos. In spite of those problems we managed to achieve some positive results. Most people were gladly surprised with our initiative and supported us. We are happy if we can make people stop, look and think, even if only for a second. And we hope to gather a lot of seconds.
Our next step is to enlarge the action, which means to photograph more citizens, to paste the photos around more places and to touch increasingly more people.
Why do you feel art, and particularly the Inside Out Project, was the best way to express your statement?
We don’t think there are many alternatives to art when it comes to expressing ourselves.
To express something always demands a way through words (writing and acting, playing and singing) and images (drawing, painting, photographing, filming). Art is expression. And expression is, most of the times, art.
Curiously, in this case, it was art that drove us to expression – it was finding out about the Inside Out Project that we started thinking what we wanted to express. Of course we did not force ourselves to find a pity social theme in order to do a project. Both sides completed each other – the need of doing something that had a meaning (our statement) and the existence of an art project that would help us to make it real (the Inside Out Project).
Inside Out Project and JR’s work caught our attention specifically for the way he photographs and the scale and boldness of his exhibitions. It fascinates us how doing something we are passionate about can help – even if just a little – to change something.
What piece of advice would you give to someone else who wants to organize a group action?
1: Believe in your project, but be realistic.
We were always too dreamy about our project, but at the same time we were very very skeptical about it. We were dreaming big things, but never really believed in their achievement. Those extremes balance kind of blocked us from doing a better project, of taking better pictures, of talking to more people, of shooting everything, of preparing things more professionally.
2: Be passionate about what you’re doing.
Our group has very different people. We don’t listen to the same music, we don’t see the same films, we don’t read the same books, we don’t dress the same, we don’t like the same colors, we have different ideas about happiness and melancholy, about politics and football. But we really wanted to do this project, we were really passionate and totally devoted to its accomplishment. And that’s why it worked.
3: Nothing’s perfect.
We were a little disappointed with a part of our project – some posters were too dark and one of the buckets of glue didn’t work very well, so a part of our ideas turned a bit into failure. One thing we realised: it’s never going to be exactly as you were planning. We are pretty sure that next time we do something like this, things will work out much better.
Each time will be better and better. And mistakes will always develop (y)our creativity!
Do you think art can change the world? Why?
Some days, yes. Other days, no. It depends on the mood we wake up! But, mainly, it is just not a straight answer.
Nothing can really change the world like pim!-magic-change. Things have to be cultivated, have to grow, have to be taken care of, have to become strong, have to create roots, in order to make a change. And this, beyond the idea itself, depends on whoʼs responsible for planting it.
We think art as a way of expression is a good ground for planting seeds. When an idea transmitted through music, a film, a play, a book, a painting, a photograph, is strong enough it can start to grow and spread its seeds through the people who listen, read, feel, see it. That will allow some change to begin little by little, being it political, social or cultural.
We donʼt think art can radically change the world. But we know it can allow ideas to flow, questions to be asked, answers to be pursued. It makes us think. And just by thinking can we change the world.
JRʼs projects are making a lot of people think about common problems of the world. But itʼs not only art that is allowing JR to make his statement. Itʼs the way he uses art, getting it out of its usual places and bringing it to the world.
So we believe art can change the world, depending on the farmer, the seedʼs strength and the spot where it is planted. Which means: art can change the world if the artistʼs idea and the way he develops it are strong enough to make people think, question and act.
99 faces. 99 stories. 99 reasons why they are the 99%.
Late last week, a group of everyday American citizens used art and the Inside Out Project platform to stand up and declare that they are the 99%. Occupy. Inside. Out. is an effort to document the people behind the Occupy movement and to share their stories; an opportunity to paint a positive portrait of the face of change.
Just as the Occupy movement is spreading across the country and world, the organizers of this action hope other supports of the movement will also use art and Inside Out to stand with the 99%.
Take portraits. Upload them to Inside Out. Get your posters. Contact the organizers of Occupy. Inside. Out to let them know what you are doing. Simple as that.
The exhibition at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery will feature large-scale works from Burtynsky’s newest series Dryland Farming. Shot in the remote Monegros region of northeastern Spain, the photographs capture the vibrant topography of a landscape in flux. This hilly, arid terrain is both desolate and fertile, with farmland carved from the gypsum foothills. Despite a scarcity of water, generations of farmers have attempted to tame this wilderness, growing cereal grains, such as wheat, barley, and corn, and creating the undulating patchwork seen today. Burtynsky trains his lens on these constructed landscapes, which are a juxtaposition of nature’s unspoiled beauty with man’s endeavor to harness the power and bounty within it.
Burtynsky photographed these patterned crop fields from a 2,000 foot aerial view, resulting in his most abstract works to date. The twisted lines and bold patches of color and texture create forms that are powerfully rich and painterly. Viewing these works conjures the energy of Abstract Expressionism, and the evocative styles of Kandinsky, Miro, and Dubuffet, as well as primitive art and cave drawings.
The concurrent exhibition at Howard Greenberg Gallery will present a retrospective that spans Burtynsky’s career. These images explore the complex relationship between industry and nature, constructed brilliance and unspoiled earth, and represent Burtynsky’s ongoing examination of humanity’s growing ecological footprint.
An opening reception will take place at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery on Wednesday, October 26, 6-8pm. A second opening reception will take place Thursday, October 27, 6:30-8:30pm at Howard Greenberg Gallery.
Last week One World One Ocean, a brand new effort for ocean awareness and new partner for Mission Blue, launched to the world. Started by Greg MacGillivray, Academy Award-nominated producer/director and president of MacGillivray Freeman Films, independent producer of IMAX® Theatre films, One World One Ocean (OWOO) is a multi-year, multi-platform nonprofit campaign that will harness the power of film, television and new media to inspire people around the world to join the movement to save the oceans.
2009 TED Prize winner Sylvia Earle joins their campaign as principal science adviser and key spokesperson, playing a leading role in a range of OWOO activities and content, including expeditions, blogs, multimedia and social media.
Over the next five years, One World One Ocean, in collaboration with MacGillivray Freeman will produce three 3D IMAX films, an 8-part television series, a 3D theatrical documentary and hundreds of online videos – all designed to change the way people see and value the ocean. The website will serve as the creative hub for ocean-inspired content and conversation for the campaign.
“Our actions toward the ocean in the next 10 years will define the next 10,000, and I look forward to working closely with One World One Ocean to inspire people to save the blue heart of the planet,” said Sylvia.
Earlier this year Aline Deschamps organized a wonderful Inside Out group action with novice monks (samanens) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We interviewed her to hear more about her experience and why she chose Samanens as her subject. The interview was edited slightly for grammar.
IOP: Was this your first foray into exhibiting your art on the street?
AD: I had a few attempts with friends before…they were fun but we did never something that big and controversial.
What was the pasting experience like for your team?
A revolution and a game at the same time.
As monk novices, it was a revolution to paste their portraits. Never had they thought possible to paste their images and what they represent on the walls of their community/temples which are usually kept very neutral.
But it was also a game. Because pasting your own portraits poster sized on the street when you are a kid is quite entertaining!
On the first temple the Samanens were so excited to paste that they put their photos EVERYWHERE without any order. A naive way of doing it that made the beauty of their action.
What inspired you to get involved in The Inside Out Project?
The whole philosophy, goal and interaction of the project. More than the aesthetic part, I knew JR´s photos power. It inspired me.
The PEOPLE – subjects in his pictures AND the ones interacting with them – inspired me even more.
The Inside Out project was for me an open gate of expression, on a global scale and in a democratic way.
How did you determine what statement to make?
Great changes are happening in the Buddhist community. The young generation of Samanens is synonymous of this change and I wanted to represent it.
How did you recruit people to participate?
They came from themselves! I had talked to a few temples about this project. The day of the exhibition I went to Wat Phra Singh and a long line of monk novices was waiting for me.
Did it take a lot of time and effort to find the right walls? To get permission?
This is definitely the most crucial and controversial point of this whole experience!
I chose the walls of Ratchadamnoen Road because it is absolutely crowded during the Sunday Road Market, and thus visible to the broader number of people. I wanted the photos to be pasted on temples’ walls just for the whole symbolism of representing a community…and the challenge.
I had to convince aboytts of temples, sometimes for days, of how InsideOut was linked to Buddhist values by bringing up knowledge of the others and tolerance, how it could innovate on the image of the temple itself.
I have encountered refusals, temples fearing the bad press of the community with ‘something that never happened before’ (despite their agreements with the project’s values). Some other temples, such as the Wat Chedi Luang, turned out to be very interested and supportive. They backed up the whole message and values of the project and saw it as a means to represent themselves in a innovative way.
A monk even told me ‘Even though some people would not understand, and there will always be, you have to do it.’
To get the right permissions and reassure some temples I went – on their demand – to ask the permission of the Highest Monk of Chiang Mai, Pratepkonson. I did not realize at that time but it was a very privileged moment. After 2 hours of talk and mentioning that the pictures were ugly, he gave me his full support for the exhibition. Victory!
What was the community’s reaction to your action?
Next to the photos we also pasted the purpose of ‘Inside Out’, articles about JR’s work, and the authorizations of the project.
Three hours later, all the pictures got ripped off. That same night only trace of glue remained from the exhibition.
It was heart breaking. So much time and work wasted by people who did not even make the effort to read and consider a legal exhibition.
I finally understood it was an answer from the street, and I accepted it.
What conversation do you hope results from your group action?
A conversation between people, that would be the first step.
Why do you feel art, and particularly the Inside Out Project, was the best way to express your statement?
Because change is part of debates, sharing views, communication between people….and Inside Out brings them. Doing it in an artistic way just calls the attention. And what better place to express a statement than in the street? A place open to everyone, where all generations and social backgrounds can view and answer to it.
What piece of advice would you give to someone else who wants to organize a group action?
Do it. Don’t give up no matter the pressure nor the gossip. Gather people around you and it will bring so much strength.
Do you think art can change the world? Why?
Yes, because ART has the ability to reach people in distinct psychological levels of intimacy.
It calls something that may be imperceptible, but that gives new variants and sensible perspectives.
In June, Agustin Fernandez Gabard organized a Inside Out group action in Montevideo, Uruguay to highlight the work and human stories of wastepicker cooperatives. Today we present an interview with him about his experience, the second in a series of interviews with IOP group leaders. The interview was edited slightly for grammar.
IOP: Was this your first foray into exhibiting your art on the street?
AF: It was my first time doing it on such big scale. I had two previous experiences exhibiting photographs on the street. In 2008 I did a small homage to musician Eduardo Darnauchans using a photo of his last concert. The other experience was in 2009 when -with a group of photojournalists- we made a street exhibition of photographs taken during the presidential campaign. The photographs were an ironic approach to the campaign, those photos the newspapers rarely use, and were pasted on a wall just the politicians posters. The exhibition was called “Sacámela!” (Give me a break!). It was the first time for Mane Gurmendez, the friend who was also responsible for this action.
What was the pasting experience like for your team?
It was a very intense and fun experience. We started at 5am (we were 10 people) and we finished pasting at around 4pm. In all that time we only stopped around for 40 minutes for lunch.
What inspired you to get involved in The Inside Out Project?
It seemed a great opportunity to put together voices from so many different places with a common goal of visibility, for claiming dignity, for change…
How did you determine what statement to make?
We decided to stand for the work and the dignity of the organized waste-pickers. The situation of the waste-pickers and the role of their work for the recycling industry is not known by the common people, that’s why we focused on the waste-pickers organized as cooperatives, because cooperatives are the way they have found to do their work on human conditions and not having to look for materials inside the garbage containers.
How did you recruit people to participate?
We sent e-mails through friends and as soon as they read about the action they were willing to take part.
Did it take a lot of time and effort to find the right walls? To get permission?
It didn’t take a lot of time to find the right walls. We chose a downtown zone and we spent one afternoon looking for the right walls. Besides the walls downtown we also used the wall of a church that is close to the waste-pickers cooperatives. About permissions, we only had to ask for permission for using two walls (the other walls are often used for pasting posters/publicity and so). One was the wall of Teatro Solis, the biggest theatre in Uruguay, where we met the director and he accepted our proposal very gently. The other wall was at the church nearby the cooperatives. We went to meet the priest in charge of the church and we were surprised about his enthusiasm about having ten photos pasted on his church.
What was the community’s reaction to your action?
Many people got curious about the action, and thanks to the media, the blog we made, and the social networks we were able to get our statement out to many people who had never before hear about the cooperatives of waste-pickers.
What conversation do you hope results from your group action?
I hope that people will consider the work of the waste-pickers in a different way, as work that is very important for our nature, for all of us, and it can be done in good conditions.
Why do you feel art, and particularly the Inside Out Project, was the best way to express your statement?
Because it was a very innovative way of showing something that most of the Uruguayan people usually deal with every day but never stop to think about it.
What piece of advice would you give to someone else who wants to organize a group action?
I would advise to think of a story that needs to be told, by people who have something strong and clear to say.
Do you think art can change the world? Why?
Yes I do, because art -as a way of communication- tends to show things in a different way (no matter what things, could be a social statement, could be feelings…), and therefore it makes people think on a different way, I think that is the basic motive why art can change the world.
IOP: Was this your first foray into exhibiting your art on the street?
DE: I am not a visual artist. I have never done anything like this before.
What was the pasting experience like for your team?
One of my favorite moments from the entire experience was at the end of the day we were pasting. My neighbors had started to come home from work, they all walk from the train and take the same route and have to head up the block. And as they did they saw us and what was happening and they gathered and shook hands and introduced themselves and stood around talking and watching together. Neighbors on one end of a Brooklyn block don’t often know the others at the opposite end, and on that day, the project had shrunk the size of a Brooklyn block to a smaller and more personable expanse. It was not something I had really thought about at all-I was only focused on celebrating the local, long time shop owners. In the end, it was not only a beautiful repercussion of participating in the project, but something that would have a long term positive influence on the people who live here-long past the time when the posters dissolve and fade away.
What inspired you to get involved in The Inside Out Project?
I had seen an article about JR in The New York Times maybe in January and saw some of his photos and I was so blown away by them, that I cut them out and put them up on my walls. Then months later, when I heard he won the Ted Prize, I watched his speech and the announcement of his wish. I was too moved and inspired to remain inactive.
How did you determine what statement to make?
When I asked myself what I cared about, past my son and friends, the answer was ‘people.’ I am very grateful for my life and everything I have in a world where so many have so little and yet they remain optimistic, joyful and generous. I thought of my neighbors who began as strangers and then became friends as they helped me over the years while I struggled as a new home owner and single mother raising my son. And then I expanded that thought to my neighborhood and how much I love it, how grateful I am to live here, even have this house. And my neighborhood is made of a community of small shop owners-some of whom have been here more than 44 years –long before it became hip to live here- and their continued presence is what makes our neighborhood so great. And they are largely an immigrant community supporting family members back home in countries all over the world. I wanted the shop owners and their families to know that their sacrifices to be here and the long hours they work are not in vain: that we see them. And I wanted them to be celebrated in a way that their families back home, who I am sure miss them very much, could witness. I wanted their families as well as the shop owners to know that the community is not taking their presence here for granted.
How did you recruit people to participate?
I counted how many stoop stairs there were on my block and made forty four 2 page flyers with photos of JR’s work and a one sheet proposal of my idea and gave my contact info.
Did it take a lot of time and effort to find the right walls? To get permission?
I figured that if I proposed the posters to be on the stoop stairs, I’d have a better time getting people to agree to me pasting on their properties. I gave myself a deadline of about 3 weeks for people to respond because I felt that if someone had to think too much about it or they were hesitant, it was probably not a good idea for them to participate. I didn’t want to talk anyone into anything. I wanted it to be a project of optimistic enthusiasm because I actually had no idea how I was going to do it or what it would look like and since there were no guarantees, I only wanted property owners who were excited. I initially wanted to reach out and organize this to happen in the entire borough of Brooklyn, with pockets of blocks doing this for all of their local shop owners, but I thought it could take me all year to organize something like that and I was only one person. So I forced myself to limit it to my block.
What was the community’s reaction to your action?
Complete support and interest. Amazement. While it was not my intention, it has also fueled the ongoing dialogue and political fire that has been going on in our neighborhood a few years now due to the ongoing construction of a new sports arena 1 ½ blocks away. This construction has enacted the eminent domain law and has forced many businesses to close, while putting many people out of their homes—although the politicians would not phrase it that way.
Our block is also a bus route and every day as people pass on the bus, it’s like they are in an outdoor art gallery and you can see the surprise on their faces. People stop every day and take pictures and ask questions. Best of all, it not only brings a smile to anyone who sees them for the first time, but to all of us who live here as well, every day, even 2 months later.
What conversation do you hope results from your group action?
I didn’t do it to inspire anyone or hope for dialogue or anything like that at all. I just wanted to publicly honor my local shop owners and give my neighbors a forum to express the gratitude I knew they felt as well.
Why do you feel art, and particularly the Inside Out Project, was the best way to express your statement?
Any time someone publicly stands up for something, there is an opportunity for those that are silent who may be feeling internally the very same thing- the quieter people in a community-to feel connected and maybe even inspired in their newly discovered unity to be a little more brave-to speak up or to participate. It just takes one person to start. Others will always follow. Art is not for the elite. It’s not for inside walls where only a few can afford the time or money to see it. It should be for everyone. If it really is a reflection or meditation on society or humanity, then society should have access to see it.
What piece of advice would you give to someone else who wants to organize a group action?
If not now, when? Do it.
Do you think art can change the world? Why?
Yes. Art is the peoples’ politics. It gives everyone a voice: both the artist and the viewer. It provides the opportunity for a communal experience and any time strangers are brought together to experience something, discourse occurs and diversity of thought is encouraged. This is the definition of a true democracy. Movements and revolutions are begun by someone speaking up-whether verbally or visually. Sometimes you can’t give a public speech to protest against injustices, but you can create something that speaks even louder, moves even more people, transgresses language barriers, can’t be stopped and doesn’t need a permit to exist. People are put off by political parties, the class system, governmental alliances, religion-all of the things that separate us and differentiate us and divide us from being one race. Art asks, not dictates. All people need to unite is one person to start. That is the essence of change: unity.
In this PeaceWeek interview from Sunday, Karen Armstrong inspired participants with how Compassion can be a path for peace.
PeaceWeek 2011, features dozens of inspiring peacebuilders working toward making the shift to a culture of peace! It’s totally free. Speakers include: Arun Gandhi, Alice Walker, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson and many more.
The atrocities that occurred on September 11 ten years ago changed all our lives. We mourn those who died and reach out in sympathy to their families and friends. On that day, ten years ago, there was an outpouring of sympathy for America all over the world – even in Tehran and Gaza. And now, tragically, our world seems more dangerously polarized than ever, even though, paradoxically, we are more closely bound together than ever before. We are linked together economically: when stocks fall in one country, there is a domino effect in markets all around the globe. We are linked electronically on the web. And 9/11 made it clear that suffering is not confined to distant, disadvantageous regions: what happens today in Afghanistan or Iraq can have repercussions tomorrow in New York, London or Madrid. Yet our perceptions have not caught up with this reality. We cannot live without the Other. Unless we manage to create a just global community in which all peoples can live in harmony, security and mutual respect, we will not have a safe or viable world to hand on to the next generation.
The bottom line is this: if we want a peaceful world, we have to be more compassionate.
Compassion does not mean pity; it requires us to ‘feel with’ the other, to put ourselves in other people’s shoes; to refuse to place ourselves in a separate, privileged category; to take responsibility for other people’s pain – even the pain of our ‘enemies’ – and do all we can to assuage it; to look into our own hearts, discover what causes us grief and then refuse, under any circumstances to inflict that pain on anybody else. We have to learn to listen, full heartedly and generously, to other people’s personal and national stories – even if these narratives conflict with our own and challenge our received views. Human beings cannot live without respect; if pain and humiliation are not acknowledged, they can harden into ungovernable rage. We urgently need to change our ‘Me First’ mentality. In short, we have to apply the Golden Rule globally, ensuring that all peoples, all ethnicities are treated as we would wish to be treated outselves. As Confucius explained to his disciples, when they asked him how to practise the Golden Rule politically: ‘It is quite simple; you seek to establish yourself, then seek to establish others.’
This is why the Charter for Compassion is so important. It is now nearly two years since we launched the Charter and now throughout the world dedicated teams – in the United States, the Middle East and Pakistan – are working to implement it practically, realistically and creatively in the unique conditions of the 21st century. We are building a network of Compassionate Cities, which acknowledge that they have not yet become compassionate but are working towards that ideal, and which will help to draw our divided world together. There are now fifty cities worldwide waiting to go through the process and you can find out how your city can join this network and personally affirm the Charter personally on www.charterforcompassion.org. There can be no quick fix; it will take time and effort to change the prevailing mindset, but it is the only way to achieve a peaceful world for ourselves and our children.
