A socially conscious artist by the name of JR recently featured his art work on Wooster Collective; an extensive project that spanned over a year of methodical planning.  These birds-eye images were actually shot a few weeks ago from Kibera, Kenya – one of the largest shanty towns in West Africa.

Blown up photographic images of Kiberan women–of almond-shaped eyes and bright smiles–were printed on vast water-resistant material that served a subtle humanitarian effort.  And now over 2,000 square meters of rooftops have been protected by the flash floods that periodically plague the agrarian community.

Then JR got creative with the train that passes two times a day through Kibera.  The cars have have also been covered with the eyes from the women that live below in the town. With the train serving as the eyes of the women, the bottom portion of their faces were pasted on corrugated sheets lined the slopes at the foot of the railroad tracks. As the train passes by its usual course, the images will match and jubilant faces will be complete for a split-second (as pictured below).  A truly blog-worthy project that is one of the high marks in the trend of functional and eco-conscious art.

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Images courtesy of JR:  http://jr-art.net/

Source:  Wooster Collective

via Sylvia Adams, 5 February 2009 8:40am | 1 |