Don’t view this as endorsement of kids smoking, tobacco or any of that shiznit. But these photos will make you look twice, guarenteed. Regardless of if it’s social, political or commercial, or otherwise, it’s very effective art. This is smart, powerful, horrible.
This photo series “The Beauty of an Ugly Addiction” is Photographer Frieke Janssens’ response to nicotine addiction and new smoking laws. She asks, “does this ban treat adults like children who can’t willfully decide whether or not to partake in this horribly harmful habit? What is it about smoking, aside from the obvious addictive content, that draws people in? Is it its image from film noir? Is it the appeal of its performative consumption, that mannerism or pose that seems to imbue a smoker with a particular sort of character?”
Can’t argue that you’ll stop and look. Tell me what you think in the comments. Then check out this sort of surreal behind the scenes video is here:
[via flavorpill, neatorama]
Jaw-dropping photos… really does provoke you!
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace
Where do we draw the line? Whats next?
As with most things these days there is no argument that will win over a smoker to being a non-smoker or vice versa, particularly on the internet. People come to forums looking for validation, not to have their minds changed over issues.
The artist has said that this work was a response to a particular story (which I also remember seeing in the news a year or two ago?) about the poor child shown at the end of the vid, who clearly is not getting the best start in life. However, I imagine that the pictures are as likely to be effective in making adult smokers think about their habit as any other message and more likely be effective than simply laying out a logical argument.
Adult smokers know the risks they are taking / imposing but the way that tobacco companies have chosen to promote their products over the years has been almost entirely via visual images of “cool” – the Marlboro Man never came on TV to tell you that cigarettes were a good thing, he just rode around on his horse smoking and made you wish that you were there too. Alas, I think that these pictures are probably not going to attract the same global audience or have the effect that billions of dollars of cigarette advertising has had over the years, but I’m sure that this is a better way than most to get people thinking for themselves.
And they are nice pics.
I think the images look incredible. They are extremely well executed and I think they do work as stand alone images that express the view or message the photographer was attempting to express.
For ages and it still happens now, smoking has been glorified. People see it as something attractive and sexy. Yet nowadays everyone knows it’s wrong. You’re damaging your health and that of those around you when you smoke, and you know it. But don’t care. Maybe it takes seeing children glorified in the same way, to make you stop and realize how wrong it is. This was the message I got out of the images, on their own, without text telling me what to think.