When I look at this photograph, which was projected this past summer
in Mulhouse, as part of a global photography project called BE THE CHANGE,
I would never imagined that a trip to Paris 4 years ago
would lead me here ... to this stage … in front of you.
Four years ago, I didn’t even speak French! So for me,
it doesn’t just signify a great moment life change in fact ...
it proves that where there's a will, there’s a way.
Four years ago, I experienced a moment of transition in my life
and I asked myself tons of questions…
and I knew there was something missing and
I asked myself if I was on the best path for me.
I wanted to go to sleep at night,
happy and proud of the work I’d done that day,
and wake up the next morning, excited and inspired
by the possibilities of a new day.
And in fact it was this trip to Paris,
which gave me the opportunity to look at who I was,
and so I dedicated energy towards re-finding myself.
Don’t get me wrong: before I was very happy!
I was very fortunate, since I was 21,
to work in the film industry.
I worked with amazing directors
I traveled around the world, filming magnificent stories.
And if I became a producer,
it was to have a hand in every domain ...
the world of art, sound, music, costume, makeup …
and it’s for these reasons that
I loved the artistic collaboration with directors.
It was as if I was in the center of a bicycle wheel
and each spoke was another interest.
I was reminded of my desire to experience as many things as possible
and more than anything, to continue learning.
Except that at one moment,
work took up too much importance in my life.
There were so many things that interested me before,
but which I had not yet explored.
And I wanted to have a more balanced life...
between my personal life and my professional life.
So when I had the opportunity to come to Paris, I grabbed it!
And when I arrived, I felt calm…already.
I remember one of my first days in Paris…
I was at the terrace of an outdoor cafe, like a real Parisian girl,
with a book that I bought in the states called Eat, Pray, Love.
It’s the story of a woman after her separation
who is seeking to find herself again.
When I got to page 6 or 8, I asked myself why I was reading the
story of someone else when I was living my own experience...
my own path.
I had a choice ... either dream about my life while continuing to read
or close the book and live my dreams.
At that moment, I closed the book and decided to live my own story.
And from the moment I arrived,
I was determined to learn French, without knowing why.
I had to learn the basics again:
counting, asking for bread in the bakery, asking directions.
But in fact, these daily actions became a metaphor –
I had to be willing to make mistakes because I knew it was inevitable…
even tonight, I’m sure.
At that moment, I realized I had nothing to lose.
So while trying to learn another language,
in another city, in another culture,
I learned another part of myself …
and it was the part that wanted to continue to be inspired
and wanted to inspire others with my work.
A few weeks later, again at the terrace of a café,
again like a real Parisian girl, I met a French man.
Surprise! We had the difficulty of language-
I didn’t speak any French - he spoke very little English,
yet we understood each other.
And it was because we were following our hearts.
We shared the same aspirations and
even though we were on two different paths,
it was clear that our paths headed in the same direction.
Without asking too many questions, it all happened so naturally,
so to me, it was a sign that I was heading in the right direction.
And it was thanks to this unexpected meeting
that allowed me to return to Paris six weeks later
and continue to live this new chapter of my life.
I had time, and with Paris as a backdrop, I felt truly inspired.
And so I revisited my ideas from before,
one in particular was the idea of bringing people together
from different backgrounds to share their experiences, their ideas
to collaborate and to do projects together.
Around the same time, I had an opportunity to go to Peru for work
and saw with my own eyes the reality of where we’re heading in the world.
And around the same time, I began receiving numerous film projects,
which focused on climate change.
I realized that here was a gap in fact
between the scientific facts and the understanding
of each individual vis-à-vis their own behavior.
So I told myself that I had to do something.
I had to find a way to help with the communication between the two
so that the people, the citizens feel that they have a responsibility.
And I decided that the first fusion would be between artists and scientists.
However to begin this journey,
I knew that I needed a partner…
someone who shared my passion.
I was in NY at the time and I called Yvonne Senouf,
who was in Athens, although she is with us here tonight,
and I told her about the idea.
I want to do this project … what do you think?
Do you want to join me? And she said in 2 seconds, yes!
So for 6 months via Skype, we exchanged ideas
of how we saw the world … what did we want to see.
All of these ideas traversed the Atlantic
and six months later, MELD was born.
MELD is a global art platform,
which mixes experts, thinkers and artists
to provide a new perspective of how we see the world.
But when we created MELD,
we knew there had to be an intellectual reflection ...
that it wasn’t enough to simply have artists and scientists
interact with one another ... there had to be another element ...
and so we said that this an opportunity
to really inspire people to act for themselves.
Like MELD and our desire to show videos
and projections in public spaces,
JR, a French photographer, also uses the world as his photographic canvas.
He is known for his large black and white portraits,
which he pastes in public spaces
to engage communities and inspire global dialogue.
This is a project he did in 2007, called Women are Heroes in Israel and Palestine
And this is another project that he did in 2008
called Women are Heroes.
Sorry, the last project was Face to Face and this is Women are Heroes
in the Favelas of Brazil and Kenya.
Last year, JR won the TED prize
And he launched a global project called INSIDE OUT.
He invited the world to participate
and to use his idea and create their own action,
which meant taking a portrait, creating a message
and then posting the portrait wherever they wanted.
Yvonne and I saw this and we said
this is our opportunity to participate.
At the same time, we were producing another project for MELD
in Athens called Project Nero,
and we heard an unforgettable story -
''the children of the traffic lights.”
In this same city, in 2004, just before the Olympic Games in fact,
many children, mostly immigrants, were “removed”
and sometimes literally disappeared to make way for the Olympics.
No one spoke about it, not even the media.
and we couldn’t let this story go…
so we decided to launch an Inside Out action called Eyes of Truth,
This action consisted of photographing
privileged and unprivileged children to begin this dialogue in fact
and talk about this story, which for us was very touching.
We invited six Greeks photographers to participate
and we pasted 80 portraits on a public wall in Athens in October 2011.
After this experience, which was honestly magical for us,
we realized that there were tons of other actions …
in Casablanca, here in Mulhouse, in Mexico
and we spoke with the leader of the action in Juarez, Mexico,
who’s name is Monica Lozano,
who, with her team, pasted more than 1000 photos
between the border of the U.S. and Mexico.
The three of us engaged in a discussion and
said that with the Inside Out platform from JR,
we can do an even bigger action … more global.
So we launched a global Inside Out action called BE THE CHANGE.
The concept of BE THE CHANGE originates from a quote by Gandhi
“Be the change you want to see in the world.“
For me, this phrase has always seemed very active, very powerful ....
like something is happening inside the phrase.
We are all individually responsible and so we said
that in order to really make change happen
we have to collaborate …
we have to share our ideas and experiences
to move to the next step.
So it’s exactly what we did.
During ten months, we spoke almost everyday,
with more than 30 leaders in 17 countries.
I imagine you can see Salah and Martine and Yvonne.
Each city developed its own action
and despite everyone’s various day jobs,
everyone gave up their time without being paid
so that the project could see the light.
It was important for us to respect the different cultures,
languages and ideas of each person.
And I remember how, after every conversation that we had with the leaders,
we felt inspired and motivated –
and even when the project became difficult, because it was very difficult,
it was that which gave us the energy to continue, to advance.
The project idea was simple ...
every action in the 17 countries took 250 portraits.
And we asked the Inside Out office in NY, after having printed the portraits,
to mix the 4000 portraits of BE THE CHANGE.
We had many…but here in Mulhouse, for example,
they had portraits from Athens, Indonesia, New York, Chile
and so the idea was to post the 4000 portraits the same day.
We actually chose the International Day of Peace,
which was the 21st and 22nd of September.
And we decided that it was important to launch this project
through a symbolic gesture in the name of peace.
So for example in Athens, we created the peace symbol
in the ancient stadium in Athens. Honestly it was magical!
With this project we didn’t just create a mosaic of faces in fact.
We created a real collaborative dialogue.
We used art and communication as catalysts for real social change.
BE THE CHANGE would never have been possible
without the work of Yvonne Senouf, who is here with us,
Monica Lozano in Mexico, and the leaders of all the actions,
including Martine and Salah,
as well Pierre Fraenkel, who gave us this beautiful font,
which he did by hand…honestly so impressive.
In fact, we realized that is was all of this good energy
and the desire to inspire that BE THE CHANGE became a reality.
After the action, we were even invited to paste
250 BE THE CHANGE portraits at a festival in New York’s Central Park,
which was called The Global Citizen Festival.
This means that BE THE CHANGE continues
and we really hope to do more projects with the same leaders.
For me, when I look at the last four years,
I realize that I re-found my path!
And I think and I feel that when we’re really determined…
when we really want something…
when we really love…
and when we feel that it’s the right way,
there’s something that guides us ...
and in fact it’s the heart that tells us that anything is possible!
And it’s in this moment that dreams come true thanks to love.