Portraits of refugees, asylum seekers and Swiss people will be pasted on the facade of a Geneva building next week as part of the latest incarnation of the participatory project InsideOut by French artist JR. The giant fresco will be created and installed on World Refugee Day (June 20) in partnership with Switzerland for UNHCR, the Swiss foundation of the UN Refugee Agency, and Hospice Général, the organization social assistance fund of the Canton of Geneva.
Founded by JR in 2011, Inside Out “helps individuals and communities assert themselves by displaying large-scale black and white portraits in public spaces.” More than half a million people in 150 countries have participated in the projects, which are now created independently of JR. The Inside Out photo booth van will be parked at the Geneva Rigot Collective Accommodation Center, a facility for asylum seekers and refugees, with UNHCR mediators on hand to explain the initiative to residents.
The Inside Out photo booth van in Tucson, USA; since 2011, the project has involved more than half a million people worldwide Photo: Joshua Geyer; www.insideoutproject.net
“This action will underline the message of inclusion reflected in this year’s World Refugee Day theme ‘Hope Away From Home: A world where refugees are always included’,” Switzerland says for UNHCR in a statement. communicated. “Portraits of host and refugee communities will be interwoven on the façade, making it difficult for the public to distinguish who is who.”
JR is currently presenting a personal exhibition, Women, at the Pace Gallery in Geneva (until July 18). Meanwhile, his first personal exhibition in Italy, Movedat the Gallerie d’Italia in Turin (until July 16), presents installations co-created with communities in refugee camps in Rwanda, Mauritania, Colombia, Ukraine and Greece.
UNHCR released this week its Global trends report for 2022, revealing the highest number of forcibly displaced people ever recorded. The total reached around 110 million, up from 20 million over the past two years, mainly due to the war in Ukraine and the crises in Afghanistan and Sudan.
