A trip to the Brooklyn Museum was quite absorbing, it displayed an immersive array of art pieces but the displays that drew much focus was the numerous pieces of work by photographer JR. Seeing his work immediately reminded me of the whole genre of street photography, and other well known photographers like Bill Cunningham and Henri Cartier Bresson but on a larger, grander scale.

Another aspect to his work that was quite enjoyable was his lack of hues and colors or black & white in some of his pieces and projects. With photography the use or lack of color can either enhance or take away from the overall purpose. Sometimes with colors a photo can become distracting, taking focus away from the photos essence JR works does the opposite. With his black and white photos it tends to compel and draw your attention to other characteristics like subtle tones, and contrast, fully flushing out the rawness of the characters within and the photo in its entirety. His photos are eyes catching yet there’s this feeling that something is missing but when given context his photography and projects can be deemed very admirable.

JR photography work tend to represent the voices of the people who are still struggling, whose messages are not heard. He has done this by engaging and working with communities all over the world to create his masterpieces that strives to transform old perceptions and views to create a new perspective of other points of view or situations. An example of this would be one of his photos of an eye that he turned into a surface/table that visitors could eat off starting on border of Mexico and a tarp on the side of America. This was his way in a sense to unify the people of both countries who are known to have some sense of hostility or negative views toward each other, and his done similar work in other countries.

JR is a fascinating character whose work I believe can bring about some change in this world.