The Brief
This competition brief entitled 'Protest!' asked for the production of an original graphical artefact that raised awareness about an issue of my choosing. After spending some time in North India and Nepal I decided to create a poster to raise awareness about the largely forgotten plight of the Tibetan people.
The Solution
The theme had scope for portraying very graphic and hard-hitting imagery to really emphasise the Tibetan struggle. However, I felt this would be too obvious and would only partly address the issues involved. Instead, I opted to focus on the apathy of Western nations towards the issue and the ease at which we live our lives compared to that of a displaced people.
The poster makes a conscious attempt to create something seemingly innocuous and thus creates a false sense of familiarity in the viewer. As the viewer gradually unwraps the content of the poster the message appears. This sense of surprise and guilt makes the poster all the more penetrative.
