30 Septembre, Collage Pont Louis Philippe
Published: 1 October 2009
women are heroes Archive
Livre + affiche collector !
Published: 29 September 2009
Extrait inédit du film “Women Are Heroes”
Published: 27 September 2009
Extrait inédit du film “Women Are Heroes”
Action in Kibera – Nairobi, Kenya – January 2009
Au cinéma en 2010
Le livre “Women Are Heroes” est arrivé !
Published: 21 September 2009
Premières photos de la préparation de l’expo
Published: 20 September 2009
Préparation de l’exposition autour de l’Ile saint Louis qui ouvre le 3 octobre…
The Film
Published: 18 September 2009
Women Are Heroes – The Film
Launch in 2010
Women Are Heroes (working title) is the first film directed by JR. It tells, in images, the surprising human and artistic adventure of the three years of work around the “Women are Heroes” project.
AN ADVENTURE FILM
The film follows the extravagant adventures for which the happy end is never sure: from the presentation of the artistic project to the inhabitants of small villages in Liberia to the organization of a posting in a favela with fragile walls, from the exhibition on houses being demolished in Cambodia to the wrapping of the train that crosses a shantytown in Kenya.
A FILM ABOUT WOMEN
Women Are Heroes is a tribute to women which dignity is underlined by posting their portraits on the walls of their village and of the whole world. In the film, women express their difficulties in a world dominated by men. In front of the camera, their share their nightmares to exorcise them, but their also offer their joy and radiate their energy …
A FILM ABOUT THE MEDIA
Women Are Heroes is filmed in places only featured by the media when « something » happens. When JR goes there, it’s not to amplify the message of the media, nor to contradict it, but to show a reality hidden by the outlook for something sensational. And it’s in the context of an ignored normality that the inhabitants of these places take the initiative and invite the media to show what they have built, not what they have suffered.
A FILM ABOUT MANKIND
Women Are Heroes asks without answering fundamental questions. We meet people who switch from tears to laughter, who bear a dark past and want to build a bright future. When we find what is common in the gaze of these women, we get closer to what is universal: the human factor.
A FILM ABOUT ART
The multiplication of images, their instant proliferation and the globalization allow the artists to reconsider their work. JR opens an original way: the participative art. With communities, he creates ephemeral art pieces which are then enriched by comments and reactions. Old women become models for a day, kids are artists for a week, students play the art critics. Participative art, questions the process, the objectives and the status of art.
Original Music
Massive Attack and Patrice Bart Williams
Contacts
International sales : Wild Bunch / Elle driver
Contact : julie@elledriver.eu
Production
27.11 production et Social Animals
Contact : cinema@2711production.com
Partners
Arte Cinéma et Canal Plus
The book
Published: 17 September 2009
“Women are Heroes”
The book shows all the women and their testimonies.
252 pages in color
23 x 32,5 cm
Bilingual French / English
Available in collector version with a poster from our friends at Crakedz !
After Portrait of a Generation, staged in the Paris suburbs in 2006, and Face2Face, in the Middle East in 2007, WOMEN ARE HEROES is the third part of the 28mm series, named for the lens that JR uses to get extreme close-ups of the models whose portraits he makes.
WOMEN ARE HEROES is an adventure book that transports you to Africa, Asia and South America. Young French artist JR takes you to the sorts of places you may fantasize or hear about on television when some dramatic event occurs, but which are far from the usual tourist spots.
His motive for taking us so far afield is to raise some fundamental issues. WOMEN ARE HEROES talks about women who sometimes walk side by side with death and often embrace life, moving from tears to laughter. They are generous women who have nothing, but are willing to share, women who have painful pasts and want to build bright futures. Searching for what is common in their gaze, we come closer to what is universal: the human factor.
Photos du livre
WOMEN ARE HEROES is a tribute to women, whose dignity is highlighted when JR puts their photographs up on the walls of their villages and all over the world. The women express the hardships they encounter in a world dominated by men. They share their nightmares and dreams in front of JR’s camera, and also express their joy and energy.
Nowadays, with the multiplicity of artistic and news images, their rapid circulation and globalisation, artists can rethink their work. JR has taken an original path, creating huge, ephemeral pieces of art with the total participation of the communities he collaborates with.
Elderly women are models for a day, and children become artists for a week. In this form of art, there is no stage separating the actor from the audience.
Like a wildflower popping up between slabs of concrete, JR’s artwork appears in the most unexpected places.
WOMEN ARE HEROES has enabled JR to share this experience and keep the promise he made to the women: to take their stories on a journey around the world.
Discover the book, turn pages !
Order the book “Women Are Heroes”