Poster campaign - "Before - After"

What they were like and what they have become...

People who left their country of birth for various reasons and live in another country are migrants. We can also describe the fate of the migrant in two words: "BEFORE-AFTER".

Our lives have changed quite a bit with the advertising industry. This sector not only shapes our social behavior but also our social relationships and determines our goals.

Two photos are taken of eight different people. They are all migrants who have now taken on Austrian citizenship. The first photo shows them with the passport of their country of origin, the second with the Austrian passport. The photos are the same, the only difference is the passport they are holding in their hands.

Posters are made from the photos and put up everywhere in Vienna, in bars and in public spaces.

I first saw these types of advertisements in poorly printed Tipo newspapers. A bald man, photographed from above, lightbulb-shaped, extra shiny, above it is written in large dots: BEFORE. Next to it is another photo, probably of the same person: a smiling, happy face with intensely brilliantine-shiny hair. Above it is also a short word: AFTER. Below the two photos is the cause of the miracle, the name of the drug with text and graphics.

I have always been fascinated by such advertisements, they have a lot in common:

whether they announce a diet course or show cellulite legs. Sometimes a broken nose is transformed into a Hollywood nose; a fat belly disappears immediately and the person is lost in their pants. Dirty laundry

is immediately white again thanks to a magical method...

all of the above miracles and many more - expressed in just two words:

“BEFORE AND AFTER”

Of course these are positive examples, but there are also terribly negative ones: Hiroshima before the atom bomb and after. There is war and destruction, turn the magical method around, a stronger effect is now possible with BEFORE and AFTER.

The photo series "BEFORE-AFTER", intended as a poster exhibition, shows the

tragicomic state of bureaucratic categorization of today's people.

At the same time, it is an ironic signal for people and their fate: the fact that they wear a face over their body is not enough - they also have to carry papers with facial photos, so-called passport photos.

If the difference to the previous state is sealed with just the change of a piece of paper and the life of the person concerned is completely changed, you have to think a thousand times.

Which is more valuable? Stamped, signed papers with passport photos or a person who has had their own face since birth.