Amnesty International launches new global campaign with a series of unique body paintings.
Amnesty International has teamed up with acclaimed Tokyo-based artist Hikaru Cho to kick-start their global campaign My Body My Rights on sexual and reproductive rights, which launched last week.
The two-year campaign will launch with a series of Hikaru’s striking and sometimes surreal images; all painted directly onto the body of participating models to create a lifelike 3D effect.
Hikaru became an internet sensation in 2013 under her nickname ‘Choo-San’ for her ‘hyper-real’ body art, which has featured widely in both British and international media. The 20-year-old Chinese born artist is currently a second year student at Musashino Art University in Tokyo majoring in Visual Communication and Design.
Each of the original designs used to launch the campaign illustrate a different ‘body right’ and were conceived following a brief from Amnesty International.
Pictured is: • You have the right to choose your partner – a trompe l’oeil effect design depicts a single face as two male profiles ‘kissing’.
Other images include:
• You have the right to live free from rape and sexual violence – the artwork depicts a face emerging from a cracked shell, a metaphor for the fragility that many victims of sexual violence feel and the emotional scars they have to deal with
• You have the right to know and learn about your body, sexual health and relationships – the design focuses on access to information and features books which appear to be ingrained in the model’s back.
• You have the right to choose if, or when, you have children – a simple keyhole and key illustrate the right to control one’s own body
• You have the right to sexual and reproductive health services – including contraception – the design features an illusion of a strip of contraceptive pills which appear to be ingrained in the arm
Madhu Malhotra, Director of Amnesty International’s Gender, Sexuality and Identity programme, said: “We should all be able to enjoy the right to make decisions about our own health, body, sexual life and identity without fear, coercion or discrimination. But all over the world, people are denied the right to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive lives. People around the world want to see this change.
“We chose to work with Hikaru as we all loved her unique approach to art. She was ideal for the campaign and able to address serious issues in a way that both informs and entertains. Many of the images are deliberately left open to interpretation – we wanted to avoid being too literal and encourage debate amongst a younger audience”.
Amnesty International’s ‘My Body My Rights’ campaign seeks to empower people to claim and exercise their rights, so that every person can make free and informed choices about their sexuality and reproduction and can exercise their sexual and reproductive rights free from discrimination, coercion and violence.
Hikaru Cho said: “You have the right to choose who you love and what kind of family you want to create, decide if and when to have children, to learn about sex and relationships, to healthcare, and to live free from rape and sexual violence. I hope my art can help young people across the world start a conversation about those rights.”
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