Photography, Universality, Profit

In 1986, United Colors of Benetton launched an advertising campaign on "themes of difference." UCB commissioned designer Oliviero Toscani to create images of "couples" to both illustrate the realities of certain conflicts and to posit a peaceful solution to those conflicts. Perhaps, however, that is already giving the company too much credit. The ad campaign was extremely controversial due to the extreme ambiguity of its imagery.
One image, for example, shows two children embracing. One is the veritable symbol of a curly haired, Anglo cherubim, the other is a child of African descent with hair modeled to resemble devil horns. What is most obvious is the depiction of certain dichotomies Westerners are familiar with (good/evil, white/black) but what the viewer is supposed to do with these materialized binaries, no one knows. The embrace between the children is at best confusing: What does it mean for stereotypes to hold and cherish each other? The humanity of the children cannot be fully separated from their symbolic representation, and so any clear humanist interpretation is lost. I have posted several more images below.

Other images in the campaign were taken from actual current socio-political events, but were absent of any explanatory literature about said events. Literally, the only literature present in all the ads was the words "United Colors of Benetton."

On its website, UCB characterizes itself as "a brand that has aimed, for over 20 years, to create “value” by capitalizing on an image." It goes on to say, "A company that emphasizes value and chooses to create value is no longer communicating with the consumer but with the individual. Actual consumption is repositioned within the overall context of life. By entering the universe of values, the brand frees the product from the world of merchandise and manufacturing and makes it a social being of its own."

Benetton believes that through its imagery, its products transcend the world of capital and are recontextualized somehow as social and ethical objects. Benetton is literally trying to sell social consciousness.

Can a photograph, with its multilayered gaze between subject, camera and photographer treat the subject with respect while simultaneously re-presenting the subject to the world? Can images similar to the Benetton ads actually speak to some kind of universal humanity, if the processes by which they are produced and presented are altered?

I present case two: The art of JR and the communities who work with him. The anonymous artist JR has been doing photography work globally for at least ten years. He began his work in Paris and has more recently done projects in Brazil, Kenya and Palestine/Israel. He establishes ties with various communities, lives with and works with them and produces large scale photo projects. His work appeals to what one could argue are the most universally recognizable images for humans: the face and the eyes. He juxtaposes these images on to the sides of buildings, walls, stairs and rooftops. His most well known project "Face2Face" invites the viewer to re-examine the conflict between Israel and Palestine by appealing to our recognition of facial expressions. JR collaborated with both Palestinians and Israelis to produce a series of funny faces, including what he calls the "HolyTrinity" (seen below) and had crews of volunteers paste the images on the dividing wall as well as local marketplaces and courtyards. What is striking about these photographs is that they don’t invite the viewer to interpret them inasmuch as the faces declare their own opinions. Their placement on the dividing wall is a critique of the wall as absurd, innocuous, ridiculous.

The Benetton ads seek to create a sense of hope or outrage and then use the Benetton name to direct the consumer to action through the purchase of merchandise. But JR’s usage of photo and edifice offer familiar visages that transform their locations as sites for action and change. JR’s work, if I may be so bold to say it, offers the idea that there can be a universal value, emphasizing that which humans will always recognize and feel bonded to in a globalized world.

For more of JR's work check out www.jr-art.net