French renown street artist JR teamed up with TIME magazine for a collaborative project titled “Guns In America.” The French artist completed a striking piece on the Houston Bowery wall on Friday, October 26, 2018 to start a conversation about guns in America. The next morning 11 people were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh by a guy with an assault rifle for the simple reason as he claimed: “I just want to kill Jews.”
About The Mural
In preparation for the project the French artist and his team, along with a group of TIME journalists, traveled to three cities, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Dallas, to film, photograph and record, one by one, people who represent the vast range of voices in our gun debate. The final result brought together 245 people from every imaginable vantage point: veterans and teachers, hunters and doctors, people afraid that guns may kill their children and people afraid they won’t have guns to protect their children. “The participants in this project will always be part of the same mural even if they don’t share the same ideas,” says the artist. “I really hope they will actually listen to each other, and I hope that people will join this conversation.”
Less than 24 hours after the mural was installed on the Houston Bowery wall, someone had tagged the black-and-white mural with a crimson number “11,” representing those murdered in the tragic Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. The Houston Street mural will remain up for the next few weeks.
About The Artist
JR is the pseudonym of a French photographer and artist whose identity is unconfirmed. Describing himself as a photographer, he flyposts large black-and-white photographic images in public locations, in a manner similar to the appropriation of the built environment by the graffiti artist. He states that the street is “the largest art gallery in the world”. He started out on the streets of Paris. JR’s work often challenges widely held preconceptions and the reductive images propagated by advertising and the media. JR’s work combines art and action, and deals with commitment, freedom, identity and limits.
Photos by Martha Cooper for Goldman Properties
