Artist JR is traveling around the  world in order to document the resilience of women who live in areas rife with conflict and violence. For his project, titled “Women are Heroes,” he conducts interviews with women from all over the world in order to document to their stories, then creates photographic portraits of them. His project thus recontextualizes the pain and tragedy of these women’s lives. It does not mask their struggles, but acknowledges them in a way that highlights the power and strength of each individual woman. The portraits resulting from these interactions are often exhibited publicly, allowing these women to gaze upon their cities in a way that asserts their power and importance. The two-fold nature of this work thus not only empowers forgotten women and uplifts their stories, but the public display of these portraits also creates a rupture in the physical landscape of their respective neighborhoods, forcing people to interact with the existence and resilience of these women.