Thursday, September 25, 2014

proximity







JR is a French photographer who chooses to be undisclosed. In 2007 he set up a Face 2 Face project along with Marco. They traveled through the Israeli and Palestinian cities and met and spoke with local people. Common people on both sides that practiced same professions like doctors, hairdressers and teachers. Using a 28 millimeter lens they took photographs in huge format of people who consented to be a part of this peace project. They realized that these people, who spoke almost the same language, looked the same were just simple people on two sides of a war zone. The Face 2 Face project consisted of taking portraits of Palestinians and Israelis doing the same job and posting them face to face, in huge formats. These were put up in places where they would be seen by everyone on both Israeli and Palestinian sides. The objective was to laugh and to think by seeing the portrait oneself and that of the other. On 20 October 2010, JR won the TED Prize for 2011. Distance truly is not a measurable parameter. It’s a variable that can be bridged by sensitivity. On their blog they say, “In a very sensitive context, we have to be clear. We are in favor of a solution in which two countries, Israel and Palestine would live peacefully within safe and internationally recognized borders. All the bilateral peace projects (Clinton/Taba, Ayalon/Nusseibeh, and Geneva Agreements) are converging into the same direction. We can be optimistic. 

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