Faces of the city

French street artist JR has been using the streets and walls of the world’s cities as his canvas for 13 years. He takes original and archival photographs of the under-represented and forgotten, blows them up to massive sizes, and pastes them into the urban landscape. One of JR's Berlin photo projects is currently on display through May 25, 2013 at the Galerie Henrik Springmann in Berlin.

JR's project, "The Wrinkles of the City," is dedicated to faces of the elderly. "I can only do it in cities where there has been a strong history, where the walls speak for the city," JR told DW. "It's really linked to the architecture, and Berlin works perfectly with that, especially with the East and West and the reconstruction of the city." Pictured is a mural on Prenzlauer Allee.

JR, pictured, finds his wrinkled faces in different way. Sometimes he spends time in parks to meet people, or gets to know them through friends or institutions - his methods often reflect the way elderly people live in different cultures. He interviews each one and then poses and photographs them. He says it's important to these older people to pass along their stories to the next generation.

In each city, JR searches out the perfect aging buildings to compliment the portraits he will form to their craggy surfaces. "I cut every window, every detail, so that the wrinkles of the people get into the wrinkles of the city," he said. Peering from rooftops, tunnels and sides of buildings, these unexpected faces confront residents with humanity, like here near Berlin's Warschauer Strasse.

His elderly subjects often react differently to the experience of seeing their faces on buildings, says JR. "In Los Angeles when I did it, it was really important because they live in a city of images. But in Cuba, they've never seen any portraits other than Fidel or Che and there's no advertising there, so for them it's pretty weird to see their face on the walls!"

JR has said that, compared to some of his other projects, "Wrinkles of the City" is less political. However, he believes that there are always politics involved in putting up a photograph.

JR's works are collected and exhibited in museums and galleries, such as Berlin's Henrik Springmann, and now sell for as much as 40,000 euros ($52,000). Still, much of what he does is still considered vandalism. "The same act, the same way of working on walls can be seen as a crime in some countries and as a piece of art in others," he mused. This piece is from his 2010 project in Shanghai.

In 2011, JR was awarded a TED Prize for his creative vision. Films about his work have been shown at the Cannes and Tribeca Film Festivals. But he's still roaming the globe, making art about and for the people. This work, "Lovers on the Roof" (2012), is from Los Angeles. "When you exhibit in the street, it's the largest gallery!" he exclaimed.