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JR Creates Time Cover Art Featuring Ukrainian Child in Lviv

publication · 2026-04-27

French street artist JR has created the cover for the March 28 issue of Time magazine, featuring a 45-meter-long photographic installation in Lviv, Ukraine. The image depicts five-year-old Valeriia, photographed by Artem Iurchenko as she and her mother fled to Poland. The artwork was unfurled on March 17 using a drone, with residents carrying the portrait in front of the Lviv Opera House. JR marched alongside citizens and actor-director Mathieu Kassovitz, who urged mobilization, stating, "If we don't fight to prevent what's happening, we will all be victims." This is not JR's first magazine cover; in May 2020, he created a Vanity Fair Italia cover reimagining Michelangelo's Creation of Adam with a masked girl.

Key facts

  • JR created the cover for Time magazine's March 28 issue.
  • The artwork is a 45-meter-long photographic installation in Lviv, Ukraine.
  • The image shows five-year-old Valeriia, photographed by Artem Iurchenko.
  • The installation was unfurled on March 17 using a drone.
  • Residents carried the portrait in front of the Lviv Opera House.
  • JR marched with actor-director Mathieu Kassovitz in Lviv.
  • Kassovitz called for mobilization, warning of collective victimhood.
  • JR previously created a Vanity Fair Italia cover in May 2020.

Entities

Artists

  • JR
  • Artem Iurchenko
  • Mathieu Kassovitz
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti

Institutions

  • Time
  • Vanity Fair Italia
  • Lviv Opera House

Locations

  • Lviv
  • Ukraine
  • Poland
  • France
  • Italy

Sources