below-the-line (or in-between)

The growing public awareness of the health risks associated with tobacco use repeatedly forces the tobacco industry to reinvent its marketing strategies.

One of the world’s largest tobacco companies is currently promoting a “smoke-free future” under the slogan “It’s time to make smoking history.” Incidentally, “Make Smoking History” is also the name of a campaign by the Cancer Council Western Australia, which has been working since 2000 to raise awareness about the health effects of smoking and offer support for quitting.

below-the-line (or in-between) takes these shifts as a starting point for a photographic exploration of the visual strategies and commodity aesthetics of contemporary tobacco products. The work deliberately aims to disrupt and deconstruct habitual ways of seeing. Central to my approach are questions about visibility and invisibility in image-making, and how to engage with the already constructed image.