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JR, born in France in 1983, is an artist who exhibits freely in the streets, communities and public spaces of the world, catching the attention of people who are not typical museum visitors.

His work mixes Art and Action; it tackles themes such as commitment, freedom, community and identity.

In April 2019, for the 13th Havana Biennial, JR was invited by Galleria Continua to paste on the outside wall of the gallery ARTE CONTINUA. He sets as protagonist of a new GIANTS’ work Alain, a little boy who lives in Havana’s Chinatown and plays every day at the foot of the former cinema Águila de Oro, the building that houses Galleria Continua. 

This installation gives the child’s peeking over the wall another dimension: while making visible the invisible, it directs our look towards new perspectives.

JR had already undertaken several projects in Havana. In May 2012 he collaborated with Cuban-American artist José Parlá on the The Wrinkles of the City project:  a huge mural installation in Havana, undertaken for the 11th Havana Biennale, for which JR and Parlá photographed and recorded 25 senior citizens who had lived through the Cuban revolution, creating portraits which Parlá, who is of Cuban descent, interlaced with palimpsestic calligraphic writings and paintings. Parlá’s markings echo the distressed surfaces of the walls he inscribes, and offer commentary on the lives of Cuba’s elders; together, JR and Parlá’s murals marvellously animate a city whose walls are otherwise adorned only by images of its leaders.

JR's blown-up photographs are pasted on mainly urban surfaces such as the sides of buildings, bridges, rooftops and even trains. Not only do they confront the public audience, they help engage audiences where they least expect it while involving their respective communities in an artistic action that consolidates their relationship to their immediate surroundings; JR’s art is about asking questions and opening a conversation between people. 

Lorenzo Fiaschi, co-founder of Galleria Continua, talks about working with JR and his project in Cuba.