Compiled for HIAS by Dylan Theodore

Art with a public message: how do they do that?
• Have you seen TV programmes, photographs, pictures or films that make you think about an important issue?
• Do you know of any images, adverts or films that try to persuade you that there is something wrong in the world that needs putting right?
• What did the artist do to make you stop and think like that? How did he or she make sure their work gave out a strong message that you could not ignore?

Art with a message: how do they do that?
• Take a look at the following images and ask yourself: are they just for fun, or is the artist trying to say something important too?
• What media, materials and techniques is the artist using?

Darling
Wim Delvoye

Mel Calman

“That’s not my political opinion. That’s just stuff I heard on the radio.”
The New Yorker

Shooting stars
Teun Hocks

(Untitled)
Teun Hocks

Hoovering
Teun Hocks

How dare you not be me?
Barbara Kruger

Art with a message: how do they do that?
• So, the artists are using jokes, humour and ridiculous situations.
• They also seem to be using contrast.
• They take something ordinary and then put something unexpected alongside. There is a twist or surprise that makes you look twice, or think again.
• What is the twist or surprise in each image ?
• They are also using line drawing (cartoon), photography, people as models and digital manipulation.

Art with a message: how do they do that?
• Some images use a surprising contrast to catch people’s attention and make them think about what they are seeing, and what the message is.
• However, the aim is not always to make you laugh.
Some images use a more disturbing or unpleasant twist.

Wall Street banquet and
Our bread
Diego Rivera

Land of plenty
Lucienne Bloch

Advertisement by Burger King, USA

Healthy eating campaign
British Heart
Foundation

Healthy eating campaign
British Heart
Foundation

Fetish
The Chapman
Brothers

Bombs away
Rockwell Kent

Requiem for Biafra
Ralph
Steadman

The price of meat
Ralph Steadman

If you are beaten … GET OUT (mock helpline)
Barbara Kruger

Mother and child at
Christmas
Ralph
Steadman

Art with a message: how do they do that?
• Sometimes artists use devices such as masks, puppets, overheard conversations, captions and speech bubbles.
• Often these tell us what is really going on in an ordinary situation, and what effect it is having on someone. We are not just given the straight message – the device helps us think about the importance of the message .
• What difference do the masks make to the next image?

Doubles
Olaf Breuning

Art with a message: how do they do that?
• Some artists just say it straight:
“This is terrible, it should not happen. Why does it have to happen?”

No life
Sydney Holo

Art with a message: how do they do that?
• Other artists want to say that people can make things better:
“People can have their rights upheld – having a peaceful life and enough food for the family is possible for everyone!”

Harriet Tubman
Aaron Douglas

Post-war monument
Pnomh Penh city centre, Cambodia

Sometimes, things don’t go, after all, from bad to worse.
Some years, muscadet faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail
Sometimes a man aims high and all goes well.
From Sometimes, by Sheenagh Pugh

“These streets are full of heroes.”
Benjamin Zephaniah