ARtGENeTICs against discrimination

I discovered JR several years ago, and I followed his projects with curiosity. When he worked on "The Standing March" for the COP21, I decided to start the 3rd year by presenting it to my students. I wanted to introduce the topic of sustainable development, show students that art could be connected to science, and use it as a segue into my genetics course by observing various humans with their similarities and differences. Since then, JR has always been a part of my introduction, although not always with the same project. While searching for my introductory material, I discovered the Inside Out project, which I found fantastic!

This year, I took the leap. I asked my students what they thought of the portraits presented and if they would like to participate in such a project without revealing my plans. Their enthusiasm motivated me, and I contacted the team, who explained everything to me. We worked extensively, and through the study of genetics and evolution, the course showed them how similar and inherently equal we all are. They also discovered that diversity within a species enriches it. This gave them strong arguments to combat discrimination!

I was able to use all of this to build the meaning of the action with them and propose it to them. They loved it! In parallel, they worked on street art in visual arts with Sylviane and in English with Clothilde. We were ready!

I identified the volunteers, and luckily, we had just enough. About half of all the 3rd graders at the middle school were willing to participate. Some were willing to help but not to be featured. It's not easy to have your portrait in a large format on the street! Families agreed to participate after a project presentation, and the Town Hall granted us a wall, in front of the school, on the gymnasium, after an interview with me. I had created a photo montage to show an idea of the final result.

The school's FSE (Foyer Socio-Éducatif) allowed us to buy the collage materials, and the technology teacher prepared THE chromosome, which served as the link between our photographs, using the school's 3D printer.

Finally, I was able to prepare the photo shoot with the help of Christine, Sébastien,, and Aurélien.

With the students, we decided on the arrangement of the portraits, which they discovered on the day of installation. Some photos had the chromosome cut off due to cropping, so we printed it and attached it to the affected portraits. Pascal prepared the materials for us, and with the help of Nathalie and Jean-Philippe, we managed the collage, under the scorching sun (it was challenging because the glue dried quickly!) in one afternoon.

The local press had been informed and came to write an article. The Town Hall also visited us to offer encouragement and congratulations!

On the evening of the collage and the following morning, everyone came to see this enormous artwork! The students were very happy!

We finalized the action three days later, with the help of Ludo, by installing the title and a QR code that leads to the project page, and added the slogan "Tous égaux" (translated as "All equal") as well as Braille with a mosaic so that the message would also be accessible to the visually impaired.

Since the first signs of damage had occurred, we also added some collages to the damaged portraits, after discussing the fate of the work and the power of the message with the students again.

In the evening, we presented the project during the open house days at the middle school! It was a joy for everyone!

The link to the action and the one to make a donation were then shared with the entire school community when the action page was completed.

A huge thank you to everyone who made this project possible!

Thank you, Inside Out, for your initiative and support!