today's event was held in protest of roe versus wade. those are your headlines. we have more news in the next hour. talk to al jazeera is next. >> he is a 30-year-old street artist plastering the world with his art. in new york a photo booth was put up and portraits of new yorkers and their visitors were pasted on the floor. why? it was part of the j.r.'s "inside out" project, a world-wide million dollar art endeavourer allowing anyone to upload a portrait, printed out

by the artist and pasted to draw attention. j.r. won the ted prize helping him with this process. j.r. is the name of a photographer whose identity is semie anonymous. he calls himself a guerilla artist. he got his start after finding a camera in a paris subway. his photos have been displayed in unusual places. along the barrier dividing israelis and palestinians, in the slums of kenya and shan'ty towns of brazil. i caught up with him at his studio in new york. >> j.r. good to meet you. nice to meet you. >> what a pleasure to meet you. you have asked the world, literally the world, to help you essentially turn the world

inside out. >> someone i met in the streets told me that the warnings - it takes what issed in of you and it puts it out there. that's what it is. people taking their own portrait. you don't have to worry about technical stuff. themselves. >> yes, yes. that. >> what have you learnt in the process. this is a project that is two years, two years old. >> exactly. >> what are you learnt during the process. >> yes, yes. for 13 years i travelled around the world doing my own projects. i realise the power of communities. i didn't know how to translate that into other communities without me. so that them doing it without me being involved. in inside i was - okay, i'm not going to call. people will be - how do you want us to do this. sure. take the photo. you'll have a cell phone or

something. take it. send it to me. we'll print it here and send it back to you. but you have to pull it wide. >> and then suddenly there would have to gather the community, go ba - okay, we have the project. no one else is involved. they don't have to ask if they don't want to. it's about them. some are small. they made it out, made it politic. >> is it about self-expression, is it about act vision. what are you seeing? when you go on the project site and you look, what do you see?

>> what i see, when i see the portrait on the website, i see faces. wherever they come from, i see faces. when i send back, those printed on paper, whatever the context, it's a weapon or a piece of art. in some places self-expression is forbidden. inthers it's on the top. >> how did it begin for you, was it self-expression. was it - you didn't think it was art in the beginning, did you. >> before photographs i was doing graffiti. that's vandalism. >> right. >> so i get - you know, it was self-expression but self, self, and i write my name everywhere. i realise the power of enabling other people to rite their own name. and i decided to do it with photography. by doing this i took what i was

doing and adapting it to others, and paste it, enlarge their faces in context where they form. >> you started with the graffiti. was there a moment. was there - how did you choose that as your form of self-expression. i'm trying to find a moment for you in your upbrbrbrbringing, i early daysys. that led you to conclude that, you know what, this is the way for me to express myself. >> you know. there's something that we all have, no matter who is listening in right now. we want to leave a mark, you know. that... >> i was here. >> and that was, like, hundreds of years ago. people want to leave a mark. my way of it, and the way friends from doing it, we like to write it on withdrawals. we walk it in the projects and see our names. i realise that the city would

clean it, and it would be gone. i started to engrave it on walls so it would stay. graving it in my building. when it came up i would see it in the doors -- initially? >> yes. early i discovered the power of photography, and that's how i transferred to another form. >> where did you find the camera? what train, what line? >> the one going through paris and the suburbs. i was waiting for a friend, and it was left in a bag forgotten. it was not a great one. i waited, there "whoah, what's that?", i didn't use it right away. then a couple of weeks after with friends, it was fascinating. you go, you see the train, you hide and you really literally go like right in front of you.

no one sees you. no one is looking to see someone. we were there hiding. i would try to tell you the story. it would be hard for me to hide the words. let me document it. i was not that good. >> 2005/2006, paris, parts of the suburbs, the outskirts of paris, parts of that are literally on fire. did you know a lot of these people. you are watching it on television, the riots of that - of that period. what were your thoughts? >> you know, in - so the year before that --

>> yes, so we are talking about 2000 -- >> 2004. for the first time i had the biggest photograph in the projects. getting close to each other. it's a dangerous project in the suburb. maybe a friend. and i take it. >> what were the images. the images of life, the using of life. not portraits, groups and jumping behind bars and buildings. one guy holding his camera like a weapon. >> i want to get to that. i pasted those. they couldn't find me. i left the country is the that time. i started to travel. that's the first time there's a heavy case against me. the city say -- >> this could be serious. the people say, "you are not going to kill it. it's our project, we are proud of it. the photo were enlarged on the buildings.

a year later when i thought all this would cool down, the two kids that died because they were chased by the police, you know, down the building, that's how it started, they hid next to a huge photograph on a building in an electric box. and the first burned in front of the photo. that's the image of kids burning and on the background there'll be photographs. >> we were trying to figure out what it was about. at some point we understand, those of us in the media, it was about these young people who were frustrated with the system, feeling as though they were locked out of the system. they couldn't participate in greater france. and you capture that, didn't you. >> you know, when i saw the majors on tv. of burning cars. >> i was like - you couldn't recognise a face.

i wept back to the neighbourhood and said, "guys, what is going on. there's cameras all around. the neighbourhood is up top. all the others are getting tense. i say, "are you part of this." i have some working out at the restaurant. it's a nightmare. there's a lot of kids taking part. 10% of all of us here are taking part in this. then it's critical. it's from paris. even abroad they think that all of france is burning. i was really - they were, no, man, it's a neighbourhood, five streets. it's interesting to see how it gets transformed by the media and the people, and the people basically, which is natural. and i thought why don't i take your portraits. if you see they are trying to steel the portraits, i'll take them from there.

if you have nothing to report, i'll write your name, age and building number. i'll be on the other side. this way if someone talks to you you can knock at the door. and everything is accepted. >> we'll take a break. when we come back i'll ask you about your art and whether you believe it's changing the world. let's take a break. this is "talk to al jazeera".

is, because the demand is driving the poaching. credit to namibia, but should we be selling permits for the world's most endangered animals because someday wants to shoot one of them. what if somebody wants to shoot a sigh we areian tiger or asian he will insanity if these folks at the safari club want to contribute to namibia's good programs, they don't need to link their contribution to the killing of an animal, just give the money. that's what advocates do every day. >> one last quick question, where do you stand on elephants and their tusks? you justify talked about the value of rhinoceros horns and trying to fight that demand. how about elephant tusks? the u.s. and chinese governments

animals because somebody wants to shoot one of them? what happens when they say they want to shoot a mountain gorilla or an aidsian elephant? >> dangerous road. let me say that if these folks at the safari club are so interested, they want to contribute to the good programs, they don't need to link their contribution to the notion of killing an individual animal. give them money. >> that's what conservationists do every day. >> where do you stand on i will facts and their tusks? you just talked about the value of a rhinosaurus horns. how about elephant tusks? the counter argument is that destroy that only serves to drive up the cost. i really

>> this is "talk to al jazeera", and i'm tony harris with the artist j.r. i'm sort of interested in who you are. and i know that there's a beating heart behind the glasses, the hats. who are you, and why are you reluctant to let people into the inner circle that is j.r.? >> you know, i'm still the same kid that was doing graffiti at the time, writing his name. he was behind it. i didn't want to get a fine with it. early with the years.

the fine was not the problem. except for some context that i'm travelling to. but more the fact that it's been others. i did that in my early process. it's about others. it's about placing others. i was like what would i gain from putting my face in front of that. you know, i didn't - i didn't see what i would gain, showing people recognising me in the streets. when i take off the hat, no one can recognise me. >> i want to know the moment - what was the moment for you. describe it for me when you came to the realisation that, you know what, i do have something. it may not be fully formed, but i do have something that i think could be special. what was the moment for you? was it... >> i think. >> -- was it a photograph. >> when i

painted my first photo in the street there was nothing special about it. you know what they say, the criminal goes back on the crime scene. it works the same, when you do something in the street you see how someone approaches it. i was there looking, and i saw a man with a suit, and a tie stopping by, looking in the suitcase, and walking away. i was like, "this would never happen", now i'm touching a young guy and a man in the suit. this is powerful stuff. photography and paper. all comb. and then the scale. >> how did you make the determination to go so large, so big. the scale of your work? >> you know, for me the scale was that i know i was competing with advertising, back and white because it was cheeper.

because, you know, i wanted to make sure that when you see, you don't think it's advertising for anything. also, you know, i wanted to do something that would impact, recreate the interest of the neighbourhood and absolve the architecture. it's a supposition. it's a statement and this is the format. this is what has been done since. i've been adapting to the ark texture everywhere i go. >> the face to face project in ramallah, the west bank, i'm

interested in that, the "face 2 face." what was your goal in taking on that project. what was the most interesting reaction to that project? >> i went there with a friend of mine. we start going on both side. we had the passports, the chance. we go and take a coffee with the palestine and the israeli in the same hour. so it was like, whoah, why don't i take portraits of doing the same job. people will not recognise. it is the same. i pasted it on the city. in ramallah, for me, it was fascinating to see a big crowd gather around. and people, you know "what are you doing, what is it?", and who are the people. this is two taxi driver, and the guy comms "what do you mean two taxi driver", one is palestine

and one is israeli. everyone looked at each other and the photo again. and there's a big silence. and that is -- >> that speaks volumes. >> and then - and then i turned to them and said, "who is your enemy?" it was, "i can't recognise my own brother." i say, "it's the other one, but don't worry, there's 10 other ones, make your chance on the next one", and then people laugh. humour is a big part. suddenly they help you. and they are like "are you doing this on the other side." here we let you do it. on the other side they are not going let you do it. you pick an enemy, it's not possible. it was amazing. it felt easy. people think i was risking my life. and i was actually having fun with the crowd in the street.

heavy discussions for sure. constantly. but like leaving discussions. i felt the power was at its maximum for me. >> you are looking at images from the artist. j.r.'s "women are heroes." we'll tell you all about it.

they really have to take the

it's a window to the sole. you literally want to put your face out there. you want an impact for yourself or a community. that is not my concern. it's your choice.

your face will take you to the project. back to the middle east. when i faced those in ramallah, who takes the risk? not me. i take a risk. i've been kicked out of the country, been injured. the one that take the risk is the guy on the photo, whose name is on it, and who could have a problem for having his face next to the enemy. >> maybe you saw this success for yourself and you are surprised by it. whatever case, are you enjoying the work, are you enjoying yourself, are you enjoying the doing. >> i mean, you know, right now, definitely, because i've been doing the journey with the same thing, with the same friends. right now i - what i really rmz is the power and the luck of being an artist. that i want to respect and make

sure i protect no matter what because as an addict, you have the right to fail. in society, that's a big right to have, you know, the right of failure, to go in a place and maybe walk. it wouldn't happen, maybe you get rested. you'll never see the daylight. but you can take the risk. i want to make sure every day everything i start. i'll do it in a way that i can lose everything the next -- >> appreciate it. pleasure to meet you. >> thank you. >> thank you for joining us for "talk to al jazeera." >> thank you. >> everyone that come to the studio, this is not "inside out," but we'll take you. here? >> that is the whole cam yes. boom. big. >> yes.

>> that's scary, j.r. [ laughs ] >> watch out. >> he's the man who brought a generation to warp speed. although george takei is perhaps best known as playing lieutenant sulu on star trek, he has a decades long career, and recently wrote and start in a musical, regarding japanese internment. something he has an intimate knowledge of. he went to