WOMEN ARE HEROES BY JR from SOCIAL ANIMALS on Vimeo.
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A highlight of this year’s Armory Show is certain to be the Armory Live talk with Jeffrey Deitch and JR, on Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 2:30pm.
From The Armory Show:
On the occasion of his new project with The Armory Show, JR, the Academy Award nominated and politically engaged artist joins gallerist and curator Jeffrey Deitch, in conversation with Artsy’s Curator at Large, Matthew Israel.
Here we take a look back at one of JR’s most impactful projects, Women are Heroes – this one from the Brazil iteration in 2008-2009.
From JR:
Moro de Providencia is a place of which the name has become synonymous for violence in Rio de Janeiro. However the reason this favela located in the center of Rio appeared on television screens in August 2008 wasn’t the regular scenes of clashes between drug dealers and the police but to present the art exhibition Women.
In order to pay tribute to those who play an essential role in society but who are the primary victims of war, crime, rape and political or religious fanaticism, JR pasted huge photos of the faces and eyes of local women all over the outside of the favela, suddenly giving a female gaze to both the hill and the favela.
“It’s a project made of bric-a-brac, like the favela itself. We had to adapt to this world where the roofs of houses are made of plastic and children’s revolvers are made of steel. We managed to get by in spite of the steep streets, the unsteady houses, the unpredictable electric cables and the exchanges of gunshots where the bullets sometimes go through several houses at once”, says JR.
From Social Animals:
Women Are Heroes is a project with many images and little words. JR’s intention is to highlight the dignity of women who occupy crucial roles in societies, and find themselves victims of wartime, street crime, sexual assault, and religious and political extremism. This project takes place in Africa, Brazil, India and Cambodia.
