JR
Women are Heroes, 28 Millimètres, Brazil

The photography was created within the global project 'Women Are Heroes'.

The project started in 2008 in Morro da Providência in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This favela is a place whose name has become synonymous with violence in Rio. For the project, JR pasted large-scale, haunting photographs of women's faces and eyes onto crumbling walls and barracks. A year later, JR founded Casa Amarela, a cultural center on the hill of the favela, to further social change through art.

The photograph features the peaceful portrait of Benedita Florencio Monteiro, who lost her grandson who was kidnapped and murdered by armed militias from a rival favela. JR doesn't just photograph people, he engages with them and documents their personal stories. In conversation with JR, Benedita Florencio Monteiro told of her hope: "We want peace and justice here. My dream is to buy a house somewhere else and leave this place."

JR has mounted Benedita Florencio Monteiro's portrait as a pasting on the favela's main central staircase for all to see.

The lithograph is printed with a traditional printing press of Marinoni on white art paper in limited edition with embossing stamp of the printer, signed by JR in the lower right corner (original pencil signature) and numbered in the lower left corner.