Interview: JR. 28 millimeters project.

May 25, 2011 Interview: JR. 28 millimeters project.

The photographer-activist, JR, converts his pictures into posters and transforms our streets into universal open-air galleries. From Los Angeles to Berlin, he keeps his independence and illegal exhibits in the streets, which he considers to be his very own gallery.

After his first guerrilla exhibition on the walls of Montfermeil’s ghetto’s (93/370) in 2004, JR settled down right in the heart of the district collaborating with Ladj Ly, inhabitant of the ghetto, actor and director from the collective, Kourtrajmé.

Armed with a 28 mm lens, JR shot full frame portraits of young people from this neighborhood and the nearby district of The Forestière (Clichy-sous-Bois, 93). This no frills, straightforward technique allowed them to get very close to this generation.

Interviewing them, without restrictions, on the recent events of November 2005.  The first portraits were illegally pasted on the east walls of Paris, a district that was once run-down, but has now become a residency for the bourgeois bohemian, who are shielded from the flames.

With abruptness, they provoke passers-by and question the social and media representation of a generation that people only want to see outside the doors of Paris or on the news.  The Book 28mm – portrait of a generation, is a collection of the 28 most meaningful portraits from the whole series.

Also included are some on the spot shots of moments shared with the young people of The Forestière, as well as several actions shots from the streets in 2005.

Truly inspiring.

Tags: Art, Interview: JR. 28 millimeters project, Journalism

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