I love music and reggae. It’s important to me to help people. Every year tens of thousands of people disappear without a trace in the world. More than ten thousand people are kidnapped in the world every year. The song encourages all of us to be careful about who we trust. I made this poster while listening to the song. I think visual art and music are powerful together. We can save one more child or one more person from harm.
The background of the picture is made up of human fingerprints. Red nails run through the picture, symbolizing resistance, and the English letter people is nailed on it. Color English symbolizes a variety of people, thus highlighting the theme, while green represents the hope of life.
The children were held in cages waiting to be sold
The poster uses hand shadow game to express the theme of shadow after dark, symbolizing the innocence and cruelty in the problem of human trafficking, in order to arouse reflection and warning. Hand shadow is used to show the shapes of snake, fox, jungle, mountain and river, corresponding to the scene association mentioned in the lyrics. Snake and foxe are symbols of violence and deception in human trafficking. The snake is the symbol of danger and evil, and the snake eye is made up of sharp teeth; the fox is the symbol of cunning and deception, and the fox eye is made up of cold fence. The composition of the picture is composed of coiled snake tails, symbolizing the state of being trapped and difficult to get rid of. There are forests, mountains and rivers in the background, symbolizing a seemingly peaceful world. In terms of color, it is mainly black, supplemented by gradient color, with strong contrast. It not only wants to express the above theme, but also wants to express the music rhythm in the lyrics.
Broken the shadows, save the children
You don’t know what this person’s heart is thinking, he is looking at you and is going to sell you, be careful of such a person
In my poster I wanted to cause impact and transmit the message, for that I included a little girl, victim of trafficking sitting on the top of a hill, the elevation meaning the course she had to go thru, reaching for a glowing lotus flower, a flower many times associated with human trafficking as it symbolizes renewal and superation, a flower that rises from the muddy waters and blossoms into a beautiful flower, representing the journy many of these victims had to go thru, so in the poster you can see the girl reaching for the flower as only her hopes prevail during those times, the color blue is also used in the flower and in the girls dress as it is the universal color for human trafficking prevention.
Women who were kidnapped and forced into prostitution
The designer wanted to express that human trafficking targets physically weak people, such as women, the elderly, children, just like in the song “Shadows After Dark” by Reggae Artists United. Human trafficking violates the human dignity of so many vulnerable people and constitutes a true crime against humanity. The designer wants to stress the urgency to stop human trafficking with the visual elements introduced to this poster.
I used the wash label on my clothes to make a satirical poster with some slogans about human trafficking. This poster is my silent protest and outrage!