Text by Anne Pasternak and Darren Walker copyright © 2019 Chronicle Books LLC.
Map on page 19 copyright © 2019 Chronicle Books LLC.
All other text and images copyright © 2019 by JR.
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ISBN: 978-1-7972-0068-2 (epub, mobi)
ISBN: 978-1-4521-8492-0 (hardcover)
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CONTENTS
JR LOVES PEOPLE BY ANNE PASTERNAK 6
CAPTURING THE WONDER OF NEW YORK BY DARREN WALKER 8
INTRODUCTION BY JR 11
A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES 12
PHOTO LOCATIONS 18
THE MURAL 19
THE PORTRAITS AND INTERVIEWS 20
juanita jones 22
daniel sanders 23
derrick boler 24
giash ahmed 25
ramon correa 28
robert bayron 31
christopher tineo 32
vivian negron 35
karen johnson 36
hanna han-josiah 39
gaitree jugdeo and linda jugdeo 40
sara arno 43
alex corporan 44
avril guerrero 46
jon boogs 47
rafe scobey-thal 48
floyd harden 50
amy wilson 51
shoshana guy 52
nile harris 55
john pullos 56
jinghan zhang 59
lijuan jenny
he 60
donny guercin 61
chris nobloxs 63
tara cole 64
sandra decroti 65
boluwaji adelabu 67
lynn nacmias 68
dua snowden 69
drewe cupid 71
wanda nieves 73
jon viktor corpuz 74
richard brown 76
emilie schwenk 80
edythe hughes 81
briene lermitte 82
danny gonzalez 85
renard s. collins 86
philip sylvester 87
kenny scoby 88
garrette gordon 90
tylo carter 91
leslie camhi 92
yann ledoux 94
zach mangan and minami mangan 95
cleo berliner 96
art spiegelman and françoise mouly 99
vincent cassel and tina kunakey 100
drew sawyer 103
wander saldana 104
james magenst 105
kate lupo 107
destiny bello 108
vaishvi shah 111
brandon crowe and casper crowe 113
wambui wainaina and adam simon 116
stéphanie de rouge 118
katie osterloh 121
alan mccutchan 122
siyong yoon (pictured with jiseon han) 125
marissa mullen 126
hamida priya and arham raj 130
mazdack rassi 132
scott thode 133
layan elwazani 134
adam kantor 135
bill army 138
oliver jeffers 140
richie notar 143
marivaldo dos santos 144
rebecca evans 147
alon sicherman 148
frank davi 151
isabel adler 153
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 157
CREDITS 158
photo credits 158
THE AUTHORS 160
by anne pasternak
shelby white and leon levy director
of the brooklyn museum
JR LOVES PEOPLE
For years I pleaded with the TED staff to give its prestigious annual prize to an artist. My pleading bordered on pushy, even obnoxious. But I had long admired the conference’s mission to do good in the world and was in awe of its mind-blowing reach to millions of online followers, and I believed TED could play an important role in amplifying art and artists that shared the company’s commitment to progressing the social good. I wanted the world to know that contemporary artists around the world were stretching conventions about what art is and could be by working with community leaders, legislators, and even politicians to make tangible change around the globe. These were artists who weren’t just pointing to problems; they were working hard to solve them in fresh and creative ways. And who better than TED to get that message across?
My persistence over the years was received with grace and openness by the TED team. Then, in early 2011, I got the call saying that TED’s leader, Chris Anderson, had agreed that an artist would receive the prize that year. I was thrilled and didn’t waste a moment to nominate a few of my favorite artists working at the intersection of art and social change.
I couldn’t wait to see who would win, and I was hopeful I’d soon see one of my nominees on stage that March. But when Chris Anderson introduced the winner, I was stunned.
JR? Who is he? How could the TED team pick an artist I had never heard of?
I confess, I was enraged. I thought the TED team had blown it.
How wrong I was . . .
Within minutes, JR’s ease, grace, humility, and humor on the TED stage began to crack my emotional armor. I listened as he described tagging buildings in Paris as a teenager and finding an old camera, which opened a new chapter in his life as a fledgling artist. Soon he was documenting his friends’ adventures as they tagged buildings across the city. Then he began gluing photocopies of his images on public
