French artist JR unveils newest Mural Arts work-in-progress

The Mural Arts Program unveiled the second work in its "Open Source" series Thursday, by the French artist JR.

The piece is the first in a new series and focuses on immigration, a recurring theme in JR's work. Titled Migrants, Ibrahim, Mingora-Philadelphia, it depicts a Pakistani immigrant who works at a Center City food truck. Mingora is Ibrahim's hometown in Pakistan.

The portrait has the young Ibrahim, wearing a striped shirt, looking over his left shoulder as if caught in a candid moment.

Open Source is a citywide project and is described as the largest of its kind ever in Philadelphia. It is comprised of 14 site-specific, transitory installations that call attention to social issues.

Contributors hail from the city and around the world, ranging from muralist Odili Donald Odita, a Nigerian immigrant and Philadelphia resident who highlights community engagement with vibrant colors and bold diamond shapes, to New York visual artist and printmaker SWOON (Caledonia Curry), who will collaborate with Mural Arts' Restorative Justice program in the coming months.

Open Source "is special because many of the participating artists . . . are working directly with the people of Philadelphia," Jane Golden, founder and executive director of Mural Arts, said at a preview of Migrants.

Open Source, which will culminate with a month of special events in October, began in Paine's Park in June with Jonathan Monk's skatable sculptures Steps and Pyramid.

JR was born in 1983. His creations blur the boundaries of portrait photography and street art.

The guerrilla artist's first Philadelphia mural will occupy the south and west walls of the Graham Building opposite Dilworth Plaza. He and his team were installing the 15-story portrait via scaffold Thursday.

Migrants will be partially obscured by a neighboring building, an artistic decision meant to mirror immigrants' unseen identities.

Open Source curator Pedro Alonzo said JR selected Ibrahim after scouting potential subjects around Center City. Other possible focuses included men from Ghana who work in a parking lot off Sansom Street.

JR is known for developing a rapport with his subjects. " more about a dialogue, so he was really talking to people," Alonzo said.

Since 2000, JR has been wheat-pasting his looming photographs in public spaces across the globe. From Israel to Brazil, his black and white images of locals have appeared on unorthodox surfaces, including buildings, walls, trains, and house rooftops. JR, who splits his time between Paris and New York, has exhibited in solo shows at venues including the Hong Kong Contemporary Arts Foundation and the Dallas Contemporary Center.

"I don't know what an immigrant looks like, but he wanted someone that blended in with the rest of us," Alonzo said. "We all descend from immigrants, most of us, in this country."