JR’s Women Are Heroes Series Amplifies Women’s Stories

French artist and activist JR's Women are Heroes project are large-scale black-and-white photographs of women that he then turns into installations at the public spaces from which the women have come from or are associated with. This brings to light the often untold stories of the women he has depicted. They retell women’s stories from conflict zones and marginalized communities, shining a spotlight on their experiences of hardship, resilience, and hope, all while also reflecting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality.

JR's Women are Heroes was created with the aim of amplifying the voices and experiences of women who have been the primary victims of war, violence, poverty, and discrimination. He does this by capturing intimate portraits of women from countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Kenya, Brazil, India, and Cambodia. Each portrait becomes a recording of these women’s journey, telling a compelling story of their struggles and their quiet resilience.

JR then pastes larger-than-life portraits of these women in public spaces where they live or where life-changing events have occurred for them. In doing so, he brings their stories out of the shadows and directly into the public eye. 

Take, for example, JR’s portrait of Praveen Mazahar from India. It’s accompanied by her story of surviving domestic violence and raising her young daughters as a single parent.

“I am now working near the dargah for an association that educates and cares for children. I lost everything, but my trials, every argument with my husband, and his brutality convinced me I was right [to move out],” reads an excerpt of her story.

Mazahar is just one of the countless women that JR has taken portraits of. The stories behind Women are Heroes range from the survival of sexual violence to stories of women who have come from marginalized communities. The images are posted at several sites, depending on their subject: from the site of an assault and to the walls of a city where that person struggled to survive.

In addition to raising awareness of women’s issues, Women are Heroes also challenges how public art is perceived and consumed. Public art is usually deemed passive and non-confrontational, but JR’s pieces are often found confronting their audiences head-on, bravely calling attention to themselves. This happens due to the sheer size of JR’s public installations.

The installation of his photograph of Benedita Florencio Monteiro from Brazil is, for example, a piece that fills up an entire staircase on the side of three different homes stacked above one another. This allows Women are Heroes to take space and scream for the attention of a passerby. These women are no longer marginalized or overlooked; the project has helped them disrupt established power dynamics and assert the importance of their voices and experiences. 

Furthermore, JR's choice to display these women’s photographs in the communities they belong to or in the places where they've experienced traumatic incidents creates a direct dialogue between these women and their surrounding communities. It ensures that some form of concrete impact will occur. The installation fosters a sense of ownership and pride among community members and at other times serves as a stark reminder of injustice.

"You have been here for a moment looking at the portraits, asking questions, trying to understand. During that time, you haven't thought about what you will eat tomorrow. This is art," said an onlooker of JR’s Women are Heroes photograph in Monrovia.

Without doubt, the project amplifies women's voices, challenges societal norms, and fosters community engagement. By bringing these women’s powerful stories out of the shadows and into the public’s eye, JR inspires people to recognize the dignity, strength, and resilience of women everywhere.