OXFAM Thermal Imaging Campaign (Research)

This print advertising campaign from Y&R, creatively directed by Mark Roalfe, is a perfect example of how the use of a particular technological medium can create a visual style that addresses a social issue and reinforces a poignant message.

In this series of print-based advertisements, Oxfam instigate and insinuate through their use of medium, allowing the audience to make assumptions based on their own recognition and knowledge of thermal imaging systems, which has a distinct aesthetic. This series cleverly highlights the issue of child mortality in third world countries, caused by global warming, by juxtaposing the warmly coloured mother, with the cold-toned child, which allows us to understand that the child is deceased. It is unclear as to whether these images are factual, yet, the message remains powerful.

The way in which the artist has used the photographic medium of the art to further reinforce story is an element of this work that we aim to apply in our own experiments, by adding an extra layer into the image's depiction.