Art Project Sheds Light on Bullying Victims

Susan Guess and her daughter, Morgan, have been on a quest to turn up the awareness on behalf of all those who have been bullied and to take significant steps to prevent this destructive behavior in the future.

Now the two are joining forces with Paducah photographer Glenn Hall to utilize a global art project to shed more light on those who are willing to stand up against bullying and put faces to the young people who have suffered from this tragic experience. The three are hoping to create a public art installation in Paducah in conjunction with an international project called Inside Out.

In 2011 the French artist known as JR won the TED prize at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and called for the creation of a global participatory art project with the potential to change the world. The project is called Inside Out. Inspired by JR’s large-format street “pastings,” Inside Out gives everyone the opportunity to share their portrait and make a statement for what they stand for. It is a global platform for people to share their untold stories and transform messages of personal identity into works of public art. Each Inside Out group action around the world is documented, archived and exhibited online. More than 120,000 people from more than 108 countries have participated.

The Indside Out project has traveled from Ecuador to Nepal, from Mexico to Palestine, inspiring group action on varied themes such as hope, diversity, gender-based violence, climate change and much more. To view some of the projects, go to insideoutproject.net.

JR exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not typical museum visitors. In 2006, he created Portrait of a Generation, portraits of suburban "thugs" that he posted, in huge formats, in the bourgeois districts of Paris. This illegal project became "official" when the Paris City Hall wrapped its building with JR’s photos. In 2007, with Marco, he made Face 2 Face, the biggest illegal exhibition ever. JR posted huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians face to face in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities. In 2008, he embarked on a long international trip for Women Are Heroes, in which he underlines the dignity of women who are often the targets of conflicts, and created The Wrinkles of the City.
As he remains anonymous and doesn’t explain his huge full-frame portraits of people making faces, JR leaves the space empty for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter. That is what JR's work is about, raising questions.

“I wish 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,” he has commented.

Guess and her daughter set out over two years ago to achieve that very goal, Susan Guess says, of changing the way people look at bullying and taking a stand to stop it. “We have found that often young people who are bullied never publicly tell their sorry. And when they do they are not celebrated for their courage. We believe that we can and should lift up the faces and voices of these kids. Through this project we are going to share their beauty for all the community to see and show that bullying does have a face and it is in the faces of those all around us right here at home.”

“I believe everyone has at least one great photo in them,” says local photographer Glenn Hall. “To be able to bring that to the surface is so rewarding. The opportunity to participate and be a part of an art project that is on a global scale is very exciting. As a photographer I understand how the process can help people find their voice and tell their story through this medium and make such a strong statement for all to see and witness.”

The project coordinators are looking for kids to participate in this project from all across the community. If you are interested in being a part of the Inside Out project in Paducah, contact Susan Guess at susan@paducahbank.com  before 2 pm on Tuesday, June 11. Please share your name, age, school and a brief explanation of your bullying experience.