ANONYMOUS

This JR street art piece featured on the pedestrianised Flatiron Plaza next to Madison Square Park in New York, photographed from a helicopter for a full view. The pedestrians walking over it are not even aware of it, the size of it and the many distractions around the busy city leaves people so unaware of their surroundings.

Elmar, Flatiron Plaza, New York, 2015

JR : “This was a project on anonymous immigrants who arrive every day in New York. All day long, people walked on this pasting without realising what it was – it was over 50 metres (160 feet) long. It was only when I photographed it from a helicopter and the image was published on the cover of The New York Times Magazine, that people noticed it; then the focus flipped – the guy in the photo, Elmar, a recent immigrant from Azerbaijan, was in the spotlight, and the pedestrians walking over it became the shadows.”