Shipping is a creative work of art..!!!

July 14, 2014

Really..?? Is it difficult to imagine that Shipping is a creative work of art..?? Well, you might change your mind after reading and seeing below..

JR is a French artist who has brought shipping and art together as part of his 2007 initiative Women are Heroes in which he photographs the eyes of women from all over the world and exhibits them..

Teaming up with CMA-CGM, the world’s 3rd largest container shipping line, JR used 151 containers loaded on board the CMA-CGM Magellan as his canvas to create an amazing work of art.. The final product is a pair of eyes belonging to a Kenyan lady from Nairobi, staring at the world from the starboard side of the ship on the Europe/Asia service..

In his Facebook page, JR says

I fulfilled my promise. At 7am, the 363 meter long ship left the Port of le Havre, France to cross the world all the way to Malaysia…

In 2007, I started Women Are Heroes. To pay tribute to those who play an essential role in society, but who are the primary victims of war, crime, rape or political and religious fanaticism, I pasted portraits and eyes of women on a train in Kenya, a Favela in Brazil, a demolished house in Cambodia.

They gave their trust and they asked for a single promise “make my story travel with you”. I did it: on the bridges of Paris and the walls of Phnom penh, the building of New York, etc.

I wanted to finish Women Are Heroes with a ship leaving a port, with a huge image which would look microscopic after a few minutes, with the idea of these women who stay in their villages and face difficulties in the regions torn by wars and poverty facing the infinity of the ocean. It did not happen at the time…

But during the last 10 days, we pasted 2600 strips of paper on the containers with the dockers of the port … And this morning we saw the ship leaving the port.

I have no idea of what is in the other containers on the boat: stuff from people leaving a country to build a different life in another region, goods that will be transformed, worn, eaten in a different country.

I have no idea where and how people will see this artwork but I am sure that some women far away will feel something today ….

And in Le Havre, we are exhausted and proud. ‪#‎Haropa‬ ‪#‎CMACGM‬ ‪#‎Festivalterredeaux‬ ‪#‎LeHavre‬

You can see some of JR’s work of art relating to shipping below.. How cool is it.. 🙂

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You can see also watch the video of the containers being loaded on the CMA-CGM Magellan here.. This video shows shipping is not just another serious industry but can also be a very creative one..

Another example where shipping and creative art has come together is in 2008, when Art Container Hong Kong, assisted by Emirates Shipping Line created The Art Container Project.. According to the Art Container Project website,

When art becomes connected with a container, a functional object, it is turned into a physical entity with its own life. Joining in the flow of the logistics industry, the containers will be taken to different cities around the world—this is the basic concept of the Art Container Project.