Driving Change for the NGO Shipbreaking Platform through Digital Initiatives, Guerrilla Marketing, and Live Events.
From 2016 to 2022, I curated and launched various initiatives to support the leading NGO focused on shipbreaking. These included a web documentary, a guerrilla marketing campaign, and a live performance, all aimed at raising awareness by crafting a new narrative that highlights how the lives of people living along shipyard coasts are directly impacted.
Client
EJC / Shipbreaking Platform
Role:
Art Director, Product Design
Date:
2018-2022
Introduction
Since 2016, I've been investigating the environmental issues of ship dismantling, known as shipbreaking. I've collaborated with journalists, NGOs, and a theater company to create a wide range of products explaining the impact on local communities in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
South Asia is the primary destination for ship dismantling chosen by shipping companies. Here, large commercial vessels—cargo ships, oil and gas tankers, and passenger ships—are sold to shipbreaking yards for demolition to recover steel and other valuable materials. This work is performed by unskilled workers, often children, in unsafe conditions. In the past decade, this has resulted in over 400 deaths. Moreover, shipbreaking yards inflict devastating damage on the local environment, negatively affecting coastal communities.
Web documentary
In 2017, I worked on the production of a web documentary aimed at telling the stories of people suffering from this practice, and how their lives have been radically changed by the shipping industry's practices on the coasts of India and Bangladesh.
The result is a web documentary co-published by Al Jazeera, Corriere della Sera, and El País, that through video, maps, and photography tells the stories of the victims.
Data visualizations
In collaboration with NGO Shipbreaking Platform, we worked on data visualizations to be shared in various publications, both scientific and editorial. We used data collected by the NGO over the course of 25 years, which shows in great detail how shipping companies use loopholes in current legislation to dismantle ships on South Asia's coasts.
This was a great opportunity to highlight the valuable work done by the NGO.
Street poster campaign
In a collaborative effort with NGO Shipbreaking Platform in 2022, we expanded the reach of "With Bare Hands" by taking it to the bustling streets of Lisbon through an innovative guerrilla campaign. This unconventional approach involved transforming public spaces into a thought-provoking, open-air exhibition. Our primary objective was to capture the attention of passersby and ignite conversations about the often-overlooked issue of shipbreaking. By bringing this critical environmental and human rights concern directly to the urban landscape, we aimed to create a visceral connection between the general public and the distant realities faced by workers in shipbreaking yards. The campaign's strategic placement in high-traffic areas ensured maximum visibility, encouraging Lisbon's residents and visitors alike to engage with the powerful imagery and information presented, thereby raising crucial awareness about the devastating impacts of unsustainable shipbreaking practices.
Live narration documentary
In 2019, thanks to the collaboration with Medeber Teatro, With Bare hands became a live narration documentary, that was presented on international festivals around Europe
