JR  (French, 1983) 

JR (French, b.1983) was born in Paris, France, on February 22, 1983. The artist, who remains anonymous, addresses political conflicts through his public art projects. JR’s career began with Street Art. He explored Parisian cultural divides by posting large-scale photographs of lower class citizens in wealthy Paris neighborhoods. He expanded on this idea with Face 2 Face, a project for which he took portraits of citizens in Israel and Palestine, and then posted them on the dividing line, challenging viewers to try to determine who belonged on which side. In 2008, JR created Women are Heroes, which focused on women living in dangerous, violent areas. A few years later, in 2011, the artist won the TED prize, which allowed him to further spread the message of his Inside Out Project. The project prints, sends, and posts photographs taken by volunteers, JR, and his team. This allows people from all over the world to share images related to various different political and cultural issues.