Inside Out
JR
From April 22 to May 10, 2013 JR and his team invited New Yorkers and tourists into a photo booth in Times Square. Almost 6,000 people participated and covered the floor of Duffy Square with the pictures of their faces. Rows of black and white portraits covered the ground. Some were smiling, others winking or making funny faces, and some looked solemn. Faces were also plastered onto a large billboard at the corner of 47th Street and 7th Avenue, and additionally in the home community of the portrait’s subjects. The photo booth truck made other stops in the Bronx, Staten Island, Queens, and Brooklyn. The original photos were taken to feature/memorialize community members affected by Hurricane Sandy, such as the Staten Island waterfront, the Rockaways, Red Hook, and Coney Island. Some of these original pictures were transported to Times Square. Every night in May 2013, from 11:57 pm to midnight, a video project on Inside Out was shown at Times Square on the screens used for advertisements. Inside Out Times Square is part of a worldwide project, launched after JR won the TEDprize in March 2011. The message changes depending on the country. For example, in Johannesburg JR photographed children with AIDS, presenting them as heroes, in an attempt to remove the stigma of the disease. In Israel and Palestine, photo trucks were stationed on both sides, in attempt to emphasize the need for a “two-state solution.” (jr-art.net) The pictures were plastered on rooftops, many of them still there. (The New York Times)
Displaying strangers' faces side-by-side from diverse backgrounds creates a strong sense of community and intimacy despite the project's location in the most populate city in the U.S. Children, bikers, elders, workers on break, and the famous Naked Cowboy all paused their busy days to pose. Inside Out gives people a sense of self-worth and recognition, simply because they were given a moment to be seen in whatever way they chose to pose. These photos "breathed life and humanity into the streets." The project also created a neutral space for discussion and exchanges between diverse peoples to take place. (TED Blog)
Sources
"Inside Out NYC." JR. Alabaz, n.d. Web. 14 May 2015.
Kozinn, Allan. "New Yorkers Walked Over, for Once." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 May 2013. Web. 14 May 2015.
Silver, Leigh. "Inside Out Project In New York City: Artist JR Decorates Times Square With Portraits (PHOTOS)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 14 May 2015.
"Turning New York City INSIDE OUT: Volunteering at JR's Photo Truck." TED Blog Turning New York City INSIDE OUT Volunteering at JRs Phototruck Comments. N.p., 26 Apr. 2013. Web. 14 May 2015.