One Wish to Change the Wrold

            TED describes itself as "a small nonprofit devoted to ideas worth spreading." Actually, it's anything but small. Five years ago, it started giving a handsome annual prize to "exceptional individuals" devoted to changing the world. The TED genie grants those prize recipients One Wish to Change the World— as well as $100,000. This year, the prize goes to an anonymous street artist, who goes by the diminutive name JR.

            The Paris-based artist, who calls himself a "photograffeur," combines photography and graffiti in a distinct form of public art. Although his work lives in the streets, it has already been recognized by museums like London's Tate Modern— and he's only in his mid-20s. JR's projects vary but have one underlying cause: Provoke change by fostering community. “Portrait of a Generation” showed giant photos of suburban "thugs" outside Paris. “Face 2 Face”, which "some consider the biggest illegal photo exhibition ever," explored Israeli-Palestinian tensions. "Women Are Heroes” was an effort to empower women by showing their faces.

            JR exhibits his photographs --printed on waterproof vinyl, which double as new roofs for ramshackle houses-- in the biggest art gallery on the planet. His work is presented freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not museum visitors. The artist makes these enormous installations in towns and cities that have virtually nothing. People come out of the woodwork to help. They start talking. Suddenly there's a sense of community and a cause. At least that's the idea. JR’s work is about social justice and creating connections between different people. His work mixes Art and Action; it talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit. He creates persuasive art that spreads uninvited on buildings of Parisian slums, on walls in the Middle East, on broken bridges in Africa or in favelas in Brazil. People in the exhibit communities, those who often live with the bare minimum, discover something absolutely unnecessary but utterly wonderful. And they don’t just see it, they make it. Elderly women become models for a day; kids turn into artists for a week. In this art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators.

         JR has a thing for eyes and noses and mouths. “Normally,” says JR, “you have to be very famous to have your picture blown up so big. But these are just ordinary people, with everyday stories.”