Marc Azoulay (E07), Behind the Images of JR

Marc Azoulay (E07) tells us how he became studio director for JR, the renowned photographer. It is a unique role that takes him to the favelas of Brazil and the Australian outback, via the Mexican border, on a journey that begins with the artist’s vision, and ends with its realisation.

At the time, he didn’t think it was a sign. And yet it was at the specific moment that he was getting ready to join the world of work that Marc Azoulay met JR. “I attended a talk he was giving at Arts Déco, while he was still just a promising young artist aged 25.” He felt drawn to him straight away. “He inspired me: he was living my passion. I immediately wanted to follow him, to go with him.”  

A seed had been planted. But Marc Azoulay was destined to explore other horizons. “I thought I needed to do something serious, to fit the mould.” And so he began working in business banking at BNP. “I mainly took the job because it was an opportunity to live in Sydney!” But the charm of life by the beach soon wore off: “I resigned after nine months, even though the subprime crisis had just struck and people advised me against giving up my job.”  

In Search of Meaning

Marc Azoulay wandered for a time, both literally and figuratively. On the one hand, he travelled all over. On the other, he was still in the world of finance, and struggling to find his niche. While all this was going on, he was frequently reminded of JR. “I signed up to his newsletter and offered to help him with his new projects.” 

Eventually, he helped install a collage by the artist on the Ile Saint Louis in Paris. “There were about a hundred of us volunteers, who spent two weeks sticking photos to the quays and the Louis-Phillipe bridge. It was an amazing experience, both artistically and personally. I met people from all different backgrounds who I would never have crossed paths with otherwise.  

Switching Sides

The planets started to align when Marc Azoulay got the chance to move to Brazil to develop the South American market for City Discovery, the tourist experience booking platform. He liked the local culture as much as his commitment to his role: “In one year, I made the Brazilians climb from 12th to 3rd biggest nationality among our customers.”  

And then... he met his favourite artist one more time. “JR was coming to open a cultural centre, Casa Amarela, at the top of Rio’s oldest favela, following his Women Are Heroes project. I offered to put him up during his stay.”  

Making it Official

After a few weeks, JR entrusted Marc Azoulay with managing Casa Amarela. “He asked me to organise events, artist residencies, workshops, and classes for kids and adults alike.”  

Then JR won the TED Prize in the United States. “In his talk, JR asked the question: can art change the world? He answered by proposing to democratise the creation of giant collages, like his. The concept? You send in a picture of you and people who share your message, the studio prints them large format in black and white, and sends them back to you to stick them up in your community. An open-source art project.” The project, entitled Inside Out, meant opening a studio in New York, which JR entrusted to Marc Azoulay. 

The Big Picture

Inside Out was originally intended to run for one year. Ten years later and it is still going, with some 400,000 people taking part in 140 countries. In Parallel, Marc Azoulay saw his duties expanded to encompass all of JR’s projects. “It works like this: he has an idea, and I make it feasible, supported by a team of more than 20 staff that I manage between Paris, New York Geneva, and Rio, as well as sometimes hundreds of participants. It is first and foremost a team effort, and all about people.” When JR wants to install a photo of a child peeking over the border between Mexico and the United States, Marc Azoulay oversees the purchasing of equipment, installation and scaffolding, arranges the digger and the team’s travel, and produces the installation’s documentation. When the artist wants to make a mural in San Francisco, his right-hand man takes care of setting up a photo studio in a trailer, moving it from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, filming the 1206 residents eager to take part, and develops an app for the whole project. “My job is similar to a movie producer. And what’s more, I’m producing JR’s upcoming films.  

And like in a movie, Marc Azoulay is living a life full of unexpected twists. He remembers his last work trip before COVID: “We started with a day in the Californian desert to stick photos on the walls of a maximum security prison. The next day, we headed to the Oscars to photograph the biggest stars in Hollywood. And the day after that, we boarded a plane to Australia, for an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and a meeting with farmers out in the bush, followed by scouting the Sydney Opera House and a meeting with firefighters who tackled the 2019 bush fires.”  

Anything is Possible

In his everyday life, Marc Azoulay sees a metaphor for art: “a universal key that opens doors and lets you communicate with everyone.” He emphasises this idea of dialogue. “We aren’t here to tell people what to think, but to encourage them to ask questions. We call out to them through images that provide a different take on societal issues to the one seen in the media, and we let them draw their own conclusions.”  

It’s a freedom to think and express oneself that he has now made his own: “Our projects are funded by the pieces we shoot and then sell in galleries. We never work with brands or organisations, we stay independent.” It’s one that he has recently been expanding, by presenting the work of emerging artists as a curator of exhibitions.

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), ESSEC Alumni Content Manager