The last exhibition exposed at the Wellcome Collection in Euston it was very interesting, everything was really well explained and I have found, that also the showcase and all the space around was matching perfectly the exposition. Was all about the relationship between graphic design and healthcare, showing how the publicity can explain to the people and protect them.
Entering the gallery the first piece exposed was a big green cross that was introduced as one of the pharmacy symbols in Europe in the early 1900s. In 1864 the symbol was red and it remains in wide use throughout Europe, although many different countries used a variation of it. Today we use an electronic one and every city can decide what to put on the cross remaining always a recognizable icon to signalize a pharmacy.
The part of the exposition that has attracted me most was the graphics piece against smoking. An old cartoon was running during all the time Made by Halas & Batchelor. Produced by the Central Office of Information for the Ministry of Health; “Dying for a smoke” from 1967, in the cartoon the devil is trying to convince kid smoking but at the end, the kids see how dangerous is a cigarette and they decide to don’t smoke anymore but do sports that a smoker can’t do for more than 10 mins. Like the cartoon from Halas and Batchelor, many others cartoon has been made against smoking. One of my favorites is from Walt Disney wit Goofy in “No Smoking” 1951, at first, it looks me weird that Walt Disney was doing cartoons about smoking but we can not forget that in that period smoking was more tolerate that today. They narrate the story of smoking showing how dependently is and how easy can spread between people, we see goofy interpret Cristoforo Colombo to show how the new world has contaminated the people with smoke.
Very rare and interesting were the stamps with publicity against smoking on it, made by artists from every country, it did attract me because were from all over the word and it looks like that smoking was bringing death everywhere.
Another really well-made project exposed was the Mosquito Killer Billboard, created by the agencies Posterscope and NBS, in 2016, emits carbon dioxide and a lactic acid solution to mimic human breathing and sweat. Mosquitos that are lured to the billboard become trapped inside, and eventually die. It is been made to solve or at least decrease the huge problem in Brazil against the Zika virus that since 2015 has conditioned 1.5 million life in Brazil; a condition that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. They say the billboard is designed to attract the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species that has been found to transmit Zika, and that it can lure the insects within a radius of up to 2.5 kilometers (about 1.6 miles).
To conclude, the Wellcome Collection contains fantastic piece from professionals and students, creating a space full of interesting ideas where visive art collaborate with all day utility.
Alessandro Casagni 