Déplacé∙e∙s is the first solo exhibition in Italy of French artist JR, at the Gallerie d’Italia, Turin. That is the first time the artist shows the Déplacé∙e∙s series which addresses an urgent phenomenon: the unprecedented displacement of people around the globe.
Since last year, the artist has been traveling to crisis zones, from war-torn Ukraine to the refugee camps of Mugombwa, in Rwanda; Mbera, in Mauritania; Cucuta in Colombia; and Lesvos, in Greece; aiming to reflect on the harsh conditions in which thousands of people find themselves due to conflicts, wars, famine, and climate change, and acting to engage audiences excluded from the artistic and cultural circuit in the name of values such as freedom, imagination.
In each location, he organized a procession around a 45-meter tarp that displayed the image of a refugee child from the community. In the opening, JR carried out another performance with five large canvases, depicting images of children he met during his visits to refugee camps, engaging hundreds of people on Piazza San Carlo and its surroundings.
Combining diverse expressive languages, JR (1983) brings his personal touch in recounting reality and stimulating reflections on social fragility to the exhibition. The multimedia exhibit immerses visitors in refugee camps through 360° video projection, allowing the visitors to see these camps and look the refugees in the eye.