At State of the Re:Union, we believe that telling stories through the lens of American communities can help bridge divides and deepen our understanding of the country around us. While we strive to capture just some of the amazing narratives playing out here in the US, semi-anonymous French street artist, JR, has taken a different approach at helping people in communities around the world find their voice.

JR is an artist who uses the world as his inspiration, canvas and gallery, literally. He uses black-and-white photographs with arresting images of locals from around the world and posts these pictures in their neighborhoods. According to an article by Zac Stone in GOOD Magazine, “His goal is to give voice and representation to communities that otherwise might be obscured, like women living in Brazilian or Kenyan slums.”

He recently became the recipient of the 2011 TED Prize, awarding him a grant of $100,000 to help fund a “world-changing project.” From this seed money, JR launched his TED Wish and began an art project literally giving all of the world a chance to engage. His wish: “To use art to turn the world inside out.” (To find out more about his TED wish, click here.)

JR is doing just that with his latest global art initiative: the InsideOut Project. According to the project’s Website, “InsideOut is a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Upload a portrait. Receive a poster. Paste it for the world to see.” All who participate in the project are encouraged to use black and white photographs to reveal and share their untold stories. These posters can be placed anywhere, from an office window to the side of an abandoned building. And according to the site, all of the exhibitions will be documented, archived and available for virtual view.

Source: InsideOut Project: Miguel R in Athens, Greece - "Eyes of Truth" embraces the diversity of our global community through the innocent gaze of our children.

According to Stone’s article, “JR is spreading his mission on a scale that was previously unimaginable, by crowdsourcing personal photos and the labor of posting them.” Even more amazing than JR’s ambition are the astonishing results this project has already yielded. Since InsideOut launched, men, women and children from six continents have become participants. According to Stone, TED Prize Director Amy Novogratz touts of JR’s project, “One guy based in Moscow is using [the platform] to show that homophobia is the shame of Russia. People are using it to bring their communities closer together.”

There are so many directions this project is going, and it really is helping to change the world one photo at a time. It might not change the world over night, but JR’s initiative is helping to bring controversial subjects to light, creating dialogue that has long been overdue for sensitive issues in many countries. The InsideOut project is connecting communities throughout the world and helping us to see that underneath our stories and struggles, humanity is universal.

If you would like to participate in the InsideOut Project, click here. As this phenomenal project takes place on a global scale, we want to know what initiatives and programs are making a difference in your community. From art collaborations to public works to educational programs, how are people in your neighborhood working to make the world a better place one person at a time?

Stone of Hope, central statue for Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, Washington, DC.

I was out sick all last week and flat on my back, but one thing I crawled out of bed for on Sunday was to watch on TV the dedication of the MLK Memorial. We often want to lionize King – and well we should – but I am even more struck by how he personally persevered and the lessons for ourselves.

King’s legacy, and that of those who came before and after him, can be hard to fully comprehend; it was that large. It is also moving to see how his words and actions – indeed, his approach – still resonates so deeply today. He is an American icon, touchstone, and conscious for us all.

And yet, it would be easy to honor King without truly recognizing how he fought his way forward. It is by examining his personal struggles that those of us who seek to create change and build a better society must examine ourselves.
So, here are some things that this weekend’s dedication brought to the fore for me:

•    There was a moment, or probably a constellation of moments, which led King to answer a larger calling to step forward and to knowingly declare, “Here I Am.” In this way, King made a declaration first to himself of his intentions and the personal values that would guide his life’s work. I have come to believe that each of us, in our own way, must make such a personal declaration.

•    But the declaration on its own was never enough. King faced enormous personal doubts along the away and he questioned his own religious faith at times. Yes, even King had doubts and fears. What about each of us? My own personal experience – and my experience over 25 years of working with change-makers – is that such doubt and fear is always present, sometimes in the forefront of our mind, other times in the background. They are natural, and we cannot escape them. And they are not a sign of weakness, just our human frailties. So, the question is not whether such doubts exist within each of us, but how we choose to deal with them: are we willing to face them squarely, work through them, understand that they are part and parcel of our lives, and not let them consume us?

•    For every victory King had, he experienced even more defeats and setbacks. This each of us must know if we wish to create change and a better society. And here, again, the question is not whether such defeats and setbacks will happen, but how we choose to deal with them. For with such setbacks, we, as individuals, inevitably must confront loss and pain and deep frustration. Nothing good comes easily. It seems to me that we must not try to escape this pain and loss, but to embrace it, learn from it, grow from it, and continue to search for better and more effective ways to move forward.

•    These lessons also require us to take a long view of our efforts. Toward this end, we would do well to adopt a kind of “impatient patience.” Isn’t this what King did? He never let go of his sense of purpose, nor did he not sit idly as his efforts ebbed and flowed. He pushed, and pushed and pushed! But he knew that his efforts, and those of others, would come about only over time. Indeed, recall this well-known quote of Abolitionist Theodore Parker that King often used: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Yes, “impatient patience” is what we must exercise.

•    Finally, King expressed and lived by an enduring belief in “people.” Imagine how many times he and his fellow travelers were imprisoned, attacked with water hoses, and had rocks and debris thrown at them, among other things. Even amid all these trials he maintained his deep faith in the capacity of people to choose a better path. Our own challenge today is to make sure we do not say that we hold this belief, but act in ways where we are do not truly live it out. I believe King reminds each of us that we must examine our own belief in people – especially amid the evil and bad things that do occur – and whether our actions actually match our words.

What is so beautiful and compelling about King’s messages is that they ask us to strip away our to-do lists, the press of our daily projects, our immediate funding needs, and to ground ourselves in what truly is important. They tell us that we cannot out run doubt, pain, fear, even despair; that they are real and human reactions to the very struggles embedded in what seek to do. Our task, as individuals, is to declare, “Here I am” and to engage fully in what stands before us and within us.

So, as we celebrate King’s enormous contribution let us use this occasion to remind ourselves of our own journey and the choices we must face and how we can continue down a path of creating stronger communities and a better society – for all.

It is easy to take our freedoms for granted, many of us do everyday. But when you think about it, what part of our daily lives have not been affected by the actions of Dr. King? What are some key ways that our daily lives are different? Do you have a story you would like to share with us on this subject? Please let us know.

A dynamic public speaker, Rich Harwood is a frequent keynote for foundations and national organizations. He is an expert contributor on national and syndicated media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN’s Inside Politics, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Special Report with Brit Hume, C-SPAN, and many others. He is also the author of Hope Unraveled: The people\’92s retreat and our way back (2005), Make Hope Real: How we can accelerate change for the public good (2008) and numerous studies, articles and essays chronicling vital issues of our time. His most recent written work, Why We\’92re Here: The Powerful Impact of Public Broadcasters When They Turn Outward, is being published and distributed in Spring 2011. You can follow him on twitter @RichHarwood and facebook.com/richharwood.

You can read Rich’s posts every Tuesday on State of the Re:Union’s website.

Can art change the world?

That’s what street artist JR asked himself last year when the TED conference said it would award him a $100,000 prize to change the world. A photographer from Paris, JR has made a reputation for pasting giant photographic portraits on urban surfaces like buildings, trains, bridges and rooftops. Working mostly in poor neighborhoods such as the slums of Kenya and the favelas of Brazil, he befriends local residents and uses them as models for his public art projects, which tell stories of the downtrodden or voiceless.

JR in Action - From Ted.com

Of course, JR is not your typical community do-gooder. The photographer – who only goes by his initials because his work often involves criminal trespassing – got his start as a 15-year-old graffiti artist, writing his name on Parisian rooftops with a few good friends. After finding a cheap camera on the subway, he decided to document their graffiti adventures – taking photos, making photocopies and plastering them on building walls. “The city was the best canvas I could imagine,” he told audience members during his TED talk in March.

Eventually, JR turned his artistic focus outward and began to document other people.  In the past few years he has plastered colossal portraits of Parisian thugs in bourgeois French neighborhoods; juxtaposed images of Palestinian and Israeli faces on security fences in the Middle East; and showcased photographs of dignified women in areas of conflict, places where females are often targets of violence.

Today his work is spreading, and with funds from his TED prize, JR is getting more people involved. Through his Inside Out Project, he invites people to send him their own photographic portraits so he can enlarge them and mail them back. In Tunisia, participants pasted portraits on billboards that used to boast images of their former dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.  In Brooklyn, photographs of 11 immigrant shopkeepers are displayed on uneven steps in Parks Slope, protesting a nearby development project that is forcing them out of business.

Before I Die - from candychang.com

Brooklyn’s Inside Out installation is just one of many interesting public art projects in the United States right now. In Boston, artist Tim Devin hangs posters on phone poles and other public fixtures to feature poetry, demographic data (like income level by neighborhood), or community-driven questions (“Do you identify with where you live?”). In New Orleans, artist Candy Chang transformed an old abandoned house into a giant chalkboard on which locals can write what they hope to achieve in their lifetimes. Called “Before I Die,” her art project has drawn a wide variety of response – like “I want to live in another country,” “go 200 mph,” “finish school,” or “tell my mother I love her” – helping people see what matters most to their neighbors.  (Visit Chang’s website to see her other art projects, including the Hypothetical Development project I blogged about a few months ago).

So from oversized portraits to posters and chalkboard houses, can art change the world? Can it change our communities? “Art is not supposed to change the world [or] change practical things,” said JR in his TED talk. But, he added, “It changes perceptions.” Posted on rooftops, stairs and walls, his enlarged photographs force local residents to confront uncomfortable questions about gentrification, discriminations and poverty, and they create a powerful statement about the community’s identity for passing visitors. They also give people with little money or power an opportunity to attain their own creative agency – not just viewing the art, but making it themselves.

Whatever form it takes, I think public art can give us a better understanding of the communities we inhabit, the people we share them with, and our potential to connect with one another. “What we see changes who we are,” said JR. “And when we act together, the whole thing is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Samantha Michaels is a senior at Northwestern University with a double major in journalism and international studies. A Chicago native, she hopes to become a foreign correspondent or travel writer someday, and during college has tried to see as many new places as possible.

You can read her posts on State of the Re:Union’s website every other Wednesday.