Bondi portraits will change the world

Visitors to Bondi Park on Sunday June 5 had their portrait taken and documented their beliefs in a few words as part of a global art project that aims to change the world.

The Inside Out art project began in France earlier this year when street artist JR won the annual TED award. The prestigious award grants the winner “one wish to change the world” and JR wished “for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project and together we’ll turn the world inside out”.

The project calls on people around the world to share what they believe in, locally and globally.

“It’s important to have what you care about come through in the portrait,” said organiser Joanna Dinning.

Portraits collected on Sunday will become part of the worldwide art project and made into posters for exhibition at the Bondi Pavilion from June 24.

Bondi resident Resa Pratoni was one of many participants on the day and found it difficult to portray what he stands for in one single shot. Mr Pratoni, whose statement was “people should work to live, not live to work,” said it took time but he believed it was possible to change the world through art.

Contributions to the project are accepted directly on the website from individuals worldwide but Ms Dinning wanted to give the “interesting community of Bondi” a chance to participate collectively by sharing their many faces and stories.

“We hope people around the world are inspired to do the same,” she said.

Inside Out may soon be coming to a wall near you, as portraits uploaded on the website can be turned into posters and sent back to participants for public exhibition. The large-scale participatory project encourages displaying the posters on many locations, including empty walls and abandoned buildings. More than 5000 photos have been uploaded on the website since the project began.

The award-winning French artist, who started out painting illegal graffiti in Paris, keeps his identity secret with questions remaining over the meaning of the initials JR. He is the youngest recipient of a TED prize and Inside Out is the most ambitious project he has engaged in to date.

By Rafael M Garcia