Pray - 1992 Johnathan Barnbrook

Pray - 1992

Johnathan Barnbrook revealing a hidden truth. The work of Johnathan Barnbrook is distinctively orientated around social and political affairs. The graphics he creates provide a visual message communicating a hidden truth in politics and in this case reason for war.

“Pasted up in the streets, these pieces highlight the decisive role that oil had in going to war. Subtle changes to powerful symbols such as the U.S. Air Force logo and the head of Christ put over Barnbrook’s real feelings about the conflict.”

“We wanted to comment on oil as the reason for military action. I used Saddam Hussain’s dubious justification - a war of Christians against Muslims. Therefore Jesus, rather than a halo of goodness, has a Shell oil logo halo.” (http://www.barnbrook.net/ - Johnathan Barnbrook on Pray - 1992)

This piece of communication is extremely effective symbolising a hidden or unspoken truth on the reason for going to war. The use of the Shell logo for a Halo symbolises Oil is the power behind the actions and decisions to go to war. The Shell logo itself has a representative shape of a halo which therefore makes the visual impact of the design more appealing.

The word ‘Pray’ above the military logo symbolizes that an action has been taken by the military to call upon God therefore Jesus is represented in this place, however, the message that is being given shows how oil has become the reasoning behind the War.

Overall the technique of using three recognisable symbols, Jesus, The Shell Logo and the Military Logo all combined together have created a symbolic message of War. The design is very simple however extremely effective encouraging the viewer to think about the real truths of War and the political decisions surrounding it.

The materials used to create this piece will have been Photoshop. Simply because it has been digitally constructed and Photoshop has all the capabilities to create this image. I think the reason he will have created the image digitally is that it could then be duplicated easily, seen as it was a poster to be pasted onto the streets.

My Response

In response to what I had understood about how Johnathan Barnbrook creates visual messages showing the underlying truth of War, I decided to attack the physical side of War. I have found out that the military sent soldiers into War over oil from Johnathans piece. I wanted to show how the military are treating people, basically as toys throwing them into War not for their country but to get control over oil.

I decided to keep my response very similar in layout to Johnathan Barnbrooks similarly using the logo for the military underneath a suggestive word under an image depicting an action from the military of what the truth actually is.

I used the word ‘play’ to suggest that the military might as well be using soldiers as toys, hence using a toy soldier in the depicting image. By having a toy soldier hanging against a cross gives the relation to religion like in Johnathan Barnbrooks piece with Jesus plus visually symbolises how soldiers are sacrificing themselves and being sent into war as if they were toys being played with by the military.

I created the image using Photoshop in the same way as I think Barnbrook would have created his.