The project Natural Recall wants to explore the connection of man and plant, research the inner workings between the animal and the vegetable world. We were invited to contribute a work in the form of a poster, to the exhibition held at Serra dei Giardini in Venice, Italy. When the project's initiator announced that there would be a second exhibition in Paris, we chose to modify the work by manually crinkling it, making it resemble a discarded pack of cigarettes.

 

Rather than contributing a strictly personal response, we chose to investigate lasting bonds between man and plant, seen in a broader perspective. Below, you will find an excerpt from our artist's statement:

Man's relationship to tobacco is one marked by fatal passion, dating back as far as to 1400 B.C. From the peace pipes of Native American tribes, to the Chesterfields smoked by James Dean in 'Rebel Without a Cause' - tobacco is both blessing and curse. Over the last few decades, public awareness campaigns have increased peoples understanding of the health effects of smoking tobacco, leading up to the statutory tobacco packaging warning messages implemented throughout the world.

For our contributed work, we used the common French warning message which translates to 'Smoking seriously harms you and others around you' and we chose a bright red paper, which both represents passion and references standard tobacco company vocabulary. Screen printed on a high-gloss, coated stock, we emulate the look and feel of the cigarette packaging in its plastic coating.

 

Surely, the relationship between man and tobacco is one of the most enduring and passionate in history.

Please visit our website for bigger images and more work:
www.lundgrenlindqvist.se