
246 247
PHOTOGRAFFEUR JR
URBAN PHOTOGRAPHIC MURALS
Rio de Janeiro, Argentina
JR (b. 1983), Designer
Paris, France
2010
JR (b. 1983), an anonymous Parisian street
artist who identifies himself as a photograffeur
—a hybrid of photographer and graffiti artist—
illegally pastes his huge, close-up photographic
portraits on walls, roofs, bridges, and embank-
ments in downtrodden locales around the
world. Personal identity is a central theme in his
“guerrilla art,” and he frequently uses the ex-
pressive human face to question racial stereo-
types, preconceptions, and injustices. The scale
of these installations is so vast that you can see
the eyes of his subjects ...