JR who's just made TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential list

JR is on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential list

He is commended for dedicating his career to bridging gaps - physical, cultural, spiritual - among all people

The publication of TIME magazine’s TIME 100 List of the World's Most Influential People is always accompanied by cries of "Well chosen!" as well as the odd "WTF?", here and there. And this year's list is no different. 

However, there are some names on there that no one could deny are anything other than very worthy inclusions. And into that latter category falls the Phaidon author, artist and activist JR.

He's nominated by Laurene Powell Jobs, executive and the founder of the Emerson Collective, which advocates for policies concerning education and immigration reform, social justice and environmental conservation. She writes compellingly about why he's on the list. This is what she says.

"In 2005, residents of the Paris projects appeared in the city’s wealthy neighborhoods—or, rather, giant photographs of them did. It was the work of JR, the French street artist who has dedicated his career to bridging gaps - physical, cultural, spiritual - among people of all backgrounds.

 

JR and Massimo Bottura
JR and Massimo Bottura

JR’s public art has since created thousands of similar encounters, all around the world. He has expanded into new formats - most recently with the Oscar-nominated documentary film Faces Places, which celebrates the dignity of France’s forgotten rural villages.

At the U.S.-Mexico border, his much-viewed installation helped inject humanity into our polarizing immigration debate. Like all of JR’s work, the imagery is at once playful and profound: a merry toddler peeking over the unforgiving steel barrier.

 

A still from the new TED + GBS film about JR's Inside Out Project
A still from the new TED + GBS film about JR's Inside Out Project

In 2013, I partnered with JR on Inside Out/Dreamers, an art installation that toured the U.S. The project inspired so much participation that we decided to do it again last year, allowing “Dreamers” and their communities to show their support for the Dream Act in a beautiful and power­ful way. 

The legislation has stalled, but the connections the project sparked continue. JR’s art changes the ways we perceive each other. The impact of that shift may be far greater than we imagine."

Congratulations JR!  Buy his book Can Art Change The World? here and see the full TIME list here which also includes architect Liz Diller who gets a shout out from art collector Eli Broad, whose museum she designed. Broad calls her “a visionary" and someone who "can turn a metaphor into brick and mortar”. We agree with that. And so will you if you buy her book, The High Line, here. 

 

JR's book - Can Art Change The World
JR's book - Can Art Change The World