French artist JR and Ukrainian photographer Maryna Karpiy presented a joint project Children of War, dedicated to Ukrainian and Georgian children who were victims of russian aggression. It was presented at the Culture Week in Tbilisi, which lasted from November 3 to 7
Children of War is a series of black and white portraits of Ukrainian children who managed to survive the war, Georgian children who live in the occupied territories of Georgia, and adults who survived the war in Abkhazia during their childhood. They were photographed by Maryna Karpiy.
The collage made from the photos was placed on the territory of the «Chronicle of Georgia» monument by artist and sculptor Zurab Tsereteli. This is a monumental complex built over the Tbilisi Sea, the stone surfaces of which depict the most important periods of Georgian history.
«As for me, this is a very appropriate location. The Ukrainian children who were sheltered by Georgia and are temporarily here are also already the history of Georgia. The war in Ukraine touched, without exaggeration, every Georgian», Maryna Karpiy told DTF Magazine.
The collaborative work was part of another large-scale JR project, Inside Out, a series of black and white portraits of individual communities. The series of photographs is usually placed in collage format in public spaces. Inside Out has been described as «a platform to help communities stand up for what they believe in and trigger global changes at the local level».
According to Maryna, they looked for heroes for Children of War at local schools and kindergartens, as well as through charitable foundations that help Ukrainian families in Georgia. In all, the photographer shot more than 100 portraits.
Sofia Tchkonia, the organizer of the event and founder of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, offered to present the project at Culture Week in Tbilisi.
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About the JR вproject in Ukraine
On March 14, a team of French artist and photographer JR came to Lviv to create a work that became one of the covers of TIME magazine. It aimed to draw attention to the problems of IDPs who left Ukraine because of russia’s full-scale invasion.
The basis of the artist’s work is a 45×20 meter canvas with a picture of a Ukrainian girl which is held by more than 100 people on Freedom Avenue near the Opera Theater in Lviv. The final result of the action was a large-scale drone shot, which was placed on the cover of Time.
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The portrait was taken by Ukrainian photographer Artem Yurchenko on the border with Poland. The project was subsequently shown in Paris, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Venice, Munich and the Vatican.
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In May, JR unveiled a new series of paintings depicting eight-year-old Thierry from Congo, who fled the country with his family «because of the crisis and instability» in the region. He is currently living in the Mugombwa refugee camp in Rwanda, near the border with Burundi.
The artist plans to further develop this project, «dedicated to children who become refugees as a result of wars and climate change».
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