JWT, London has enlisted British artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey to create “grass photographs” for HSBC’s partnership with the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Harnessing seedling grass light sensitivity, Ackroyd and Harvey, who are known for similar work worldwide, record photographic images by projecting black and white negatives onto grass as it grows in a dark room for 12 hours per day for more than a week. The grass grows in accordance to the modified light exposure, thus the photo “develops” on a living canvas. Link
The artists essentially use grass as a form of photographic paper, projecting a black-and-white negative image onto a patch of grass as it grows in a dark room, and using the natural photosensitive properties of the grass to reproduce photographs. As Wimbledon is the only remaining Grand Slam tennis tournament that takes place on grass, it was a natural fit for Ackroyd & Harvey’s work, which has also appeared on the National Theatre Lyttleton flytower and Dilston Grove in Bermondsey.Link
Product: HSBC
Agency: JWT London
Executive Creative Director: Russell Ramsey
Creative Director: Axel Chaldecott
Copywriter: Laurence Quinn
Art Director: Mark Norcutt
Creatives: Darren Keff, Phillip Meyler
Country: United Kingdom
Artists: Ackroyd & Harvey
Art Buyer: Stuart Heyburn
Account Manager: Tanya Hamilton-Smith
Account Director: Will Kirkpatrick
Client: Heather McCracken, Brand communications manager
