Giants, Kikito and the Border Patrol
JR
2017, France
Litho on paper
Working at the intersection of photography, street art, filmmaking and social engagement, French artist JR shows us human faces in areas of conflict, by pasting large, printed portraits on walls and billboards, of people who are usually unseen or dehumanized. The point is to bear witness, with dignity, humour, and grace, in close collaboration with the people portrayed.
In September 2017, JR created an art installation on the US-Mexico border near the city of Tecate, featuring a giant photograph of Kikito, a Mexican toddler whose house in Tecate overlooks the fence. The installation shows Kikito playfully peeking over the border barrier into the United States.
Kikito’s mother: ‘I hope this will help people see us differently than what they hear in the media, that they will stop taking us like criminals or rapists. I hope in that image they won’t only see my kid. They will see us all.’
The artwork served as a powerful statement on the human side of the immigration debate, emphasizing the shared humanity of people on both sides of the border. JR: ‘It didn’t bring a political conversation, but a human conversation: “What is this kid thinking?” It was really just a love message. No hate debate.’
Courtesy FENIX Collective, Rotterdam
JR, the originator of the 28 Millimeters Project which he started in and around Clichy-Montfermeil in 2004, continued in the Middle East with Face 2 Face (2007), in Brazil and Kenya for Women Are Heroes (2008-2011), the documentary for which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 (Critics’ Week). JR has created “Infiltrating art”. During his collage activities, the local communities take part in the act of artistic creation, with no stage separating actors from spectators. The anonymity of JR and the absence of any explanation accompanying his huge portraits leave him with a free space in which issues and actors, performers and passers-by meet, forming the essence of his work.