Antonio Sanchez Sorroche as featured in Wrinkles by JR

The life that led to Antonio’s Wrinkles

Children starting out on their own journey can hear the life stories of their elders in JR’s charming new book

Wrinkles, the first children’s book by the French artist JR, is a wonderful way to bring young and old together. The images in the book were actually taken for JR’s international art project, Wrinkles in the City, which saw him photograph some of the more senior citizens in different cities around the world, including Shanghai, Istanbul, Havana, Berlin and Los Angeles.

These portraits were then enlarged and pasted up, showing the faces of people who had witnessed, first-hand, how their cities had changed.

You can read some of those histories in the lines on their faces. Our new book however, also reproduces their life story in simple terms for younger readers. Here’s the tale behind this man’s wrinkles.

“My name is Antonio Sanchez Sorroche. I am 82 and I live in Cartagena, Spain. When I was young, my sister and I went from bar to bar, playing the guitar and the bandurria (a Spanish stringed instrument, similar to a mandolin) to earn money. We were paid just a few coins for our music. Later I became the manager of a bar.”

 

Wrinkles by JR
Wrinkles by JR

That’s an adult life story, at a child-friendly length. For more simple life stories for those just starting out on their own lives, get Wrinkles by JR here.