The French artist, JR, is at it again with a new piece of border art. His last masterpiece was a huge picture of a baby towering over the border, and the new installment included a picnic table on each side of the wall with the eyes of a DREAMer on it.
JR has spent the last decade working in zones of conflict like borders and prisons, so not much can surprise him anymore. However, he posted a short clip of him sharing tea with a Border Patrol officer through the border wall, saying he finds angels everywhere he goes.
The picnic is legally forbidden, but nobody shut it down, joining in on the experience instead. JR says it’s always worth trying despite everything telling you that it could end up turning into a disastrous event when it’s all said and done.
There was also a live band at the event, with half on the Mexico side and the other half on the United States side. JR wrote on his Facebook that the people present forgot that the wall existed, if only for a minute, while they shared food and water with each other through the fence.
This event also marked the last day that the photo of the baby would be standing at the Tecate border. JR invited his Facebook followers to take pictures at the border before they removed the artwork on October 8th, and that they did.
Meeting like the one JR organized occur many times throughout the year, with families that can’t be together meet for a day and pretend all is right in the world. This meetup was extra special because the art highlights the struggle and uncertainty that DREAMers face today.
The current political climate is threatening the well-being of 800,000 young undocumented people, and most of them are students. Trump’s administration seems unlikely to rest until deporting all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
JR recently launched a film called Faces Places with Agnes Varda and Cohen Media Group. Its first release was October 6th in New York and will be available in Los Angeles October 13th. Critics say it’s moving, funny and that Agnes and JR make an excellent duo on camera.
The French film follows Varda, who is in her eighties, and JR, 33, on a road trip where they meet new people and take large pictures of them. They are polar opposite characters that somehow mix perfectly to create one of the most human films ever.