The photographer JR 'dressing' a favela in Rio with faces of women
The Morro da Providencia favela, one of the most dangerous of downtown Rio de Janeiro, returned to space in the press but not by violence but by the artistic work of a French photographer who signs just like 'JR.
JR chose not to reveal their identity and even his face. It defines itself as a "artivist (mixture of artist and activist) and took the facades of houses perched on the hills of the favela with huge photos of faces and eyes of women, black and white.
In the distance, the effect is impressive, as the eyes of these women are on the slopes and eyes seem fixed on who passes along Avenida Brasil, one of the main streets of Rio de Janeiro. Favela is watching the city.
"JR and his team spent nearly a month in the favela. Armed with a 28mm lens, made photos of thirty women volunteers, and then chose the houses where the pictures would be installed with the help of Brazilian climbers, "he told AFP Mauricio Hora, a photographer born in the slums and helped JR-establish contact with neighbors.
Time also had to intercede with the drug traffickers who control the favela to allow JR and his team can work in complete safety.
For the French photographer, the streets are a universal art gallery and a real city scene, and this exhibition has wanted to pay tribute to women who play an essential role in these poor communities and are the first victims of violence .
The second objective of the project is to develop in an environment where art is usually excluded.
"It is an ephemeral. The rain has already destroyed several posters. But that is precisely what makes the interesting, "Time said, highlighting that" the neighbors have started to become familiar with art. "
JR avoids interviews, behind only the "stars" of their presentations, which are the people who aparecenen photos or who gave their homes.
"If I start to emerge, the center of attraction will cease to be my work," said French photographer quickly to the daily Folha de Sao Paulo last weekend.
JR and his team had to adapt to the steep streets, the housing, electricity cables and tangled up in a shooting opportunity between police and drug traffickers.
Were precisely the reports about the death of three youths in Morro de Providencia, on June 16, which convinced JR favela to include in your itinerary.
The photographer had already made 'Portrait of a generation "in the outskirts of Paris in 2006, and" Face 2 Face' in the Middle East. As part of his current project, 'Women,' and had 'dressed' destroyed homes with portraits of African women.
Fatima Barbosa, 48, is the face that appears in a photo posted on a staircase of the favela. It is also the mother of one of the three young soldiers surrendered to 11 drug traffickers to counter a community and then were executed.
With eyes full of tears that she never told he had "thought through a test like this, but I will continue fighting for justice."
The exhibition, Barbosa told AFP, "has given us visibility because authorities do not say everything. I have seen on TV and it made me well, "he said.
In Barbosa's vision, "JR has given a new identity to the favela and improved self-esteem of its inhabitants abandoned by the authorities."
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