French street artist seeks human connection with portraits

French street artist seeks human connection with portraits

He started out as a teenager spraying graffiti on walls in Paris -- but French street artist JR now communicates through giant photographic portraits plastered from Brazil to Hong Kong, a bid to reach what he feels is a disconnected world. The 32-year-old who describes himself as a "photograffeur" -- a mix of photographer and graffiti artist -- has mounted enormous black-and-white photos of local residents on dilapidated bridges and slum walls in a bid to get his message across. "The whole power of this art was to gather people and reconnect people, especially in a world where we're disconnecting more and more." Wearing his trademark fedora and dark glasses JR -- who keeps his name and identity a secret -- is in Hong Kong to present two exhibitions of his work, coinciding with the annual Art Basel show, Asia's largest art fair, which runs until Tuesday. JR has already used the city sprawl of Hong Kong as a canvas -- in 2012 he posted large black-and-white portraits of Hong Kongers on the roof of a pedestrian walkway as part of a global art project where people contributed portraits and stories.