Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico (10/24/11) — When TED Prize winner JR announced his wish to turn the world “Inside Out,” inviting people around the globe to share a photo portrait along with a statement about what they stand for, Juarez Action Group stood up to participate. 1,000 people offered a portrait of themselves, and called attention to stand for the positive aspects of this border town.
“We were inspired to participate in JR’s TED Prize wish, and demonstrate our community’s commitment to recuperate peace in our city. We believe now is the right time to get the community involved in this type of global art project that can help heal the deep wounds that have been developed in this area of the world. We decided to show the most beautiful characteristic of this city, its remarkable people. This project gives people a voice and the opportunity to show the positive side of this conflict-ridden community that is so desperate to be heard.”
Monica Lozano, a local photographer featured in American Photo Magazine as September’s “One to Watch” lives in New York City and came back to Juarez to make the Inside Out Project happen in her hometown. In collaboration with 14 local photographers, Peter Svarzbein, Rita Sofia Trillo, Christian Nassri, Luis Fernando Garcia, Lorena Jurado, Luza Fernandez, Olimpia Villarreal, Saul Torres, Omar Artalejo, Leopoldo Alvarez, Adriana Prieto, Larissa Lucero, Raquel Santamarina and Miguel Baca, gathered 1,000 images from Juarez and El Paso TX. The posters ( 90x135cm) will be installed right on the division point the United States and Mexico, the Rio Grande on October 29th and 30th. The portraits from both nationalities will be mixed and each laughing portrait will be displayed facing one another along each side of the river, as if each face were looking and talking with each other. The unspoken dialogue between each figure is implicit by the position of the images and suggests a sense of unity at the border. The main objective of the project is to use images to capture the beautiful spirit of the people in this border and their great love for their community. “We stand for peace in our city, our country and the world“. JUAREZ ACTION GROUP.
Informational Link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inside-Out-Project-Juarez/232457350137165
About the Inside Out Project
The Inside Out Project is a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone is challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images are made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators, for them to exhibit in their own communities. People can participate as an individual or as part of a group. Posters can be placed anywhere, from a solitary image in an office window, to a wall of an abandoned building, or in a full stadium. These exhibitions will be documented, archived and be made available online at http://www.insideoutproject.net/.
The INSIDE OUT project is a creation of the street artist JR, the recipient of the 2011 TED Prize (watch JR’s TED talk here).
About the TED Prize
The first TED Prize was awarded in 2005, born out of the TED Conference and a vision by the world’s leading entrepreneurs, innovators, and entertainers to change the world – one Wish at a time.
The reward: $100,000, the TED Community’s array of talent and expertise, and the leadership of a TED Prize team led by Amy Novogratz. What began as an unparalleled experiment to leverage the resources of the TED Community to spur global change has evolved into one of the most prestigious prizes. From Bono’s the ONE Campaign (’05 recipient) to Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (’10 recipient), the TED Prize is helping to combat poverty, take on religious intolerance, improve global health, tackle child obesity, advance education, and now inspire art around the world.
For more information on the TED Prize, visit www.tedprize.org.
