WWW.BROOKLYNDAILY.COM 1 METROTECH CENTER NORTH • 10TH F BROOKLYNPAPER.COM FLOOR • BROOKLYN, NY 11201
Urban creatures: “The Chronicles of New York City” features photographs and intimate audio interviews with more than 1,200 New Yorkers, digitally put together into a giant mural. JR
The big picture
Giant mural of New Yorkers debuts at Brooklyn Museum
COURIER LIFE, OCT. 11-17, 2019 55
HBy Aidan Graham e’s really put the focus
on Brooklyn!
An enormous new
interactive photo installation
documents the joy and beauty of
everyday life in the Big Apple.
The exhibit “JR: Chronicles,”
which opened on Oct. 4 for
an eight-month stint at the
Brooklyn Museum, features a
two-story high mural of 1,200
New York residents, all shot last
summer by the renowned French
photographer known as JR, said
the show’s curator.
“He traveled around the five
boroughs and shot people up
close, allowing them to pose
however they wanted,” said Drew
Sawyer. “Then people told him a
little bit about themselves —
some very personal anecdotes,
or about life in New York City
more broadly. There’s an app
that you can download to listen
to all of these recordings.”
In the summer of 2018, JR
set up his mobile photo studio
in various neighborhoods around
the city, recruiting passers-by and
photographing them in front of a
greenscreen. Their poses and their
stories were an effort to paint a
complete story of city-dwelling
life, according to Sawyer.
“Some people posed as if
they were working, some are
walking or running, some
people are eating,” said Sawyer.
“And the subjects are from
everywhere. Within Brooklyn,
he went to Flatbush, Bed-Stuy,
Coney Island, Downtown,
Williamsburg — and really
tried to capture a wide range of
residents to help tell the larger
picture of the city.”
The result of JR’s monthslong
photo journalistic effort is
the 21-foot-high, 32-foot wide
wide mural, “The Chronicles
of New York City,” with the
subjects digitally packed
together along the city skyline.
Visitors can download an app
to hear the stories of people
featured on the mural, or they
can watch a short documentary
screening near the mural that
depicts the art-making process,
said Sawyer.
“ ‘The Making Of’ is a
10-minute documentary film
that shows the people who
participated, and how the crew
went about putting together the
extraordinary mural,” he said.
The exhibit also features a
chronological timeline of JR’s
past work, which has gained
recognition for his ground-level
depictions of people affected by
hot button political issues —
including the Israel-Palestine
conflict, gang violence in Brazil,
and housing issues in Paris. He
has displayed his portraits of
local residents where they live,
either with open-air gallery
shows, or by posting giant
versions of his images on walls
nearby, giving his subjects a
voice, said Sawyer.
“Often times, a photographer
will travel somewhere where
an event is taking place, like a
political uprising, or a conflict
zone … and tells those stories
for a foreign audience,” said
Sawyer. “JR turns that on its
head, and really goes to a place
and spends time with the people
living there … and gives his
subjects an opportunity to
counter the mainstream media
presentation.”
“JR: Chronicles” at the
Brooklyn Museum 200 Eastern
Pkwy. at Washington Avenue in
Prospect Heights, (718) 638–
5000, www.brooklynmuseum.
org. On display through May
of 2020. Wed–Sun; 11 am–6 pm.
$16 suggested admission.
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/WWW.BROOKLYNDAILY.COM
/www.brooklynmuseum
/www.brooklynmuseum
