Lens Culture: A Window on the World's Soul

JR’s Parisian “Women are Heroes”, which runs until 2 November, pays tribute to the courage and resilience of women in places where JR says “art does not exist”.JR’s “Women are Heroes” show, running until 2 November all over Paris, pays tribute to the courage and resilience of women in places where JR says “art does not exist”.

A post on the show will follow (proceed chronogically) a new post on Egypt’s Al-Azhar University’s grand imam calling for a niqab ban. It’s all about the eyes today at Anne of Carversville.

“Eyes for me are the windows of the soul,” says the young Paris “photograffeur” whose work has taken him to the troubled Paris suburbs, to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to Brazil, Kenya, Liberia, India and Cambodia - each time putting up his giant prints in the midst of local communities. “Through the eyes, you can read the person, sometimes read their story.”

Dana Popa at Lensculture.com

From the series “not Natasha” by Dana PopaLooking for more photos from JR, I stumbled into the most wonderful photography blog Lensculture.com. Wow!

Not only does Lensculture have an extraordinary lineup of “culture” photographers — translated global, often gritty, educational, humanist, poetic, visually provocative, real — sharing images, the website is extremely well-organized (I bail on most) and features written interviews and thoughtful essays, and many audio interviews with the photographers.

Describing the above photo from “not Natasha”, Diana Popa writes: In the summer of 2006, I went to the Republic of Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, and the main exporter of sex slaves for the whole continent. I went to see how they managed to live with the traumas they had experienced in a world that knows nothing about their suffering; how they lived under a huge shadow of fear that a mother or husband might find out and throw them out in the street. I stepped into a shelter for survivors of sex trafficking.

Karen Glaser at LensCulture.com

Spring and Swamps by Karen GlaserThe artists make personal statements: Karen Glaser calls her photographs of the Everglades both seductive and sickening. I also want to remind you that water is an endangered resource. Living preoccupied lives, water is far from our day-to-day consciousness and concern. My pictures show the intricate and infinite nature of water.

Back to my original journey, this link takes you to more of JR’s photographs.

Installation view of JR’s work shown in Arles, France, 2007.LensCulture is an awesome find. It will take me quite a while to digest it but what a discovery. Anne