Meet the real heroes of war

The latest work of mysterious French artist JR to be screened here tomorrow, is a hard-hitting documentary shot in Africa, South America, and India about the violent impact of war on women

The latest work of mysterious French artist JR to be screened here tomorrow, is a hard-hitting documentary shot in Africa, South America, and India about the violent impact of war on women

Today, it's a blank, dirty wall. Tomorrow, it may carry a giant black and white photograph of an unlikely African woman staring you into submission. With JR in the vicinity, you never know what's next.

A still from Women Are Heroes. The documentary will be screened in
the city on Monday

The mysterious French photographer and artist, who won the coveted TED (a US-based nonprofit foundation dedicated to cultivating ideas and innovation) prize of $1,00,000 (Rs 45 lakh approximately) in February, for 'putting a human face on some of the most critical social issues while redefining how we view, make and display art,' will be showing his latest work, Women Are Heroes on May 30, as part of a special Alliance Francaise initiative.

Known for using street art to make viewer ponder over issues that surround them, JR keeps his identity a tight secret. He does not reveal his face, name, or the intended meaning of his poster-sized images that pop up on nondescript locations in cities across the world -- from slums around Paris to dilapidated bridges in Africa.

Women are Heroes is a 1 hour, 20 minute documentary that tries to give a voice and face to women who have suffered the consequences of wars in Africa, Asia and South America. Shot over three years, the film focuses on Rio de Janeiro, Liberia's villages in Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Kenya and India. Theiru00a0 stories are multitudinous -- rape, sons shot before their mother's eyes, a struggle to balance culture and modernity.

"We hope the film will touch the lives of people in the city. As some of the scenes were shot in India, it felt natural to support such a beautiful project," says Victoire Guena, cultural coordinator, Alliance Fran aise de Bombay.

"The documentary raises fundamental issues, even as it is an artistic effort. JR transforms streets, buildings, shantytowns, favelas and entire villages into art galleries, forcing viewers to see art that they might not otherwise encounter," she says.

Some scenes were shot in India with the help of the French embassy. In the documentary, arresting close ups of women who have suffered terrible events fill frame after frame, as they talk about living next to death, owning nothing, but wanting to build a bright future after leaving behind their past.

For JR himself, the intention was to keep a promise he made to the women who participated in his project.
"With my film, I wanted to pay a tribute to these women and underline their dignity by posting their portraits on the walls of their villages and of the whole world. When I met them, they expressed their difficulties of living in a world dominated by men. In front of the camera, they shared their nightmares, but they also offered their joys and energy," the artists says in an issued statement.

So you have women laughing in embarrassment at gigantic photos of themselves lining staircases and buses, even as Cambodian women share sordid tales of the violence of expropriation.

Quite appropriately, the film begins with the line: "In times of peace, women are discriminated. In times of war, they are the targets."