I was delighted this morning to see this New York Times article on Parisian street artist, JR, who puts up murals of human faces all over the world. (That’s his name, JR — no more, no less. Artists! Sheesh!)
In the Times’s photo gallery slideshow of his artwork, I realized that I had seen his art before, in person, and I hadn’t even realized it!
Here is JR’s work in Bethlehem, Palestine, taken in March 2007: (I do not have permission to post the photo, so please click this link.)
It doesn’t look that way today. This graffiti artist’s graffiti has been grafittied.
Check out these photos, which I took in November 2009:
Photo of JR's faces, taken in November 2009 in Bethlehem, Palestine. (Photo by Andrea James)
Photo of JR's faces, taken in November 2009 in Bethlehem, Palestine. (Photo by Andrea James)
For kicks, here are the rest of my photos from the Palestinian West Bank!
(From the home page, click “read more.” Also, any photo can be enlarged by clicking on it.)
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Photo of JR's faces, taken in November 2009 in Bethlehem, Palestine. (Photo by Andrea James)
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Check point to enter Palestine. Israeli citizens are not allowed to enter. It is manned by the Israeli military.
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Lots of opportunities to buy trinkets.
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Me in the church in Bethlehem on the spot where Jesus is said to have been born. I entered chewing gum and was quickly admonished by some angry Germans. I said, "Es tut mir leid," (I'm sorry) and took the gum out of my mouth. That seemed to appease them.
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These little girls blew me kisses and said, "I love you."
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A mosque near a church. This area is called Peace Center.
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I do this in every country and city: Have my photo taken with the local guards or police.
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There were some beautiful buildings, wealthy homes and magnificent views over the wall.
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Interesting Banksy mural. (Hat tip: From the comments!)
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The Israel security wall. Notice on the bottom right, it says, "Made in USA."
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Manger street, in Bethlehem.
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The exact spot where Catholics say Jesus was born.
That “interesting mural” is a Banksy.
Thanks for alerting me to the NYT article on JR. Your photos of his work in Bethlehem, Palestine from 11/09 are so interesting – as are your photos from the Palestinian West Bank. (I have a close relative who travels there frequently but cannot take pictures. & Thanks too for your tweet linking to the NYT feature on the Smith Tower penthouse apt.)
HMF: Now I’m intrigued — why can’t your relative take pictures?
Oh – I’m so sorry for the delay in responding & I wish I could be more specific. I just remember asking, when she was showing me pictures of Israel, Egypt & Jordan – do you have any of the Palestinian territories? & she responded, something to the effect of, “I don’t think we can do that.” However, one benign explanation, now that I think about it, is that she’s only there during the day, solely on official business, & travels w/security, so it could be implicit protocol, or simply that none of her colleagues take photos, so she’s doesn’t want to be the only one.