This is a most amazing art project from the slums of Kibera, Kenya that is simply too good not to share with this community.
In today’s Andrew Sullivan’s blog – The Dish – at "Atlantic Monthly" I noticed a post that linked to an art project in Kibera, Kenya which quite literally caught my eye.
Unfortunately for me the artist's - JR (links below) - website is in French and "Je ne parle bien pas français" ... but I think the project is titled "Women of Kibera Kenya" – and here from the referring site that Sullivan links to is its background about a most amazing art project located in one of the largest slums in Africa:
Today, after more than a year of planning, 2000 square meters of rooftops have been covered with photos of the eyes and faces of the women of Kibera. The material used is water resistant so that the photo itself will protect the fragile houses in the heavy rain season. The train that passes on this line through Kibera at least twice a day has also been covered with eyes from the women that live below it. With the eyes on the train, the bottom half of their faces have be pasted on corrugated sheets on the slope that leads down from the tracks to the rooftops. The idea being that for the split second the train passes, their eyes will match their smiles and their faces will be complete.
This new work, by far JR's most ambitious to date, can be seen from space and will be seen in Google Earth.
The Google Views:
The artist’s - JR - own website, does offer an additional "English version" showing how the work was actually accomplished.
JR's Work In Progress
And although it’s unlikely that any of the citizens of Kibera, Kenya will be able to view the Google satellite pictures, they will enjoy the view every time one of the artist's trains passes by:
Ground-Level View of JR's Art from Kibera As the Trains Pass By
Footnote: I am not familiar (except through this experience) with the artist "JR" and I have no doubts that there are nuances and layers of interests others can add connecting Kibera, Kenya with President Obama – but I was just smitten by the art itself.
I'd be delighted to see others add more depth to a work of art that I think stands on its own merits.