Wandering to the next page

Duty Paid

(
2016
)
140 x 93cm
/
Original cigarette packets on cotton board
Duty Paid is a collage that pieces together the dying insignia of cigarette branding, which made way for the introduction of plain packaging. The work was made in conjunction with the act of quitting smoking, intended to comment on the subtle power and invisible influence generated at the nexus of nicotine and branding.
Produced by modernity’s masters of seduction, cigarette brands combine bold primary colours with luxury metallic golds and silvers to promise status, attractiveness, confidence and calm – a lustre Fuller repeats in gold foil on the print editions of this original work. Duty Paid places their supposed power under scrutiny, challenging that power’s omnipotence by reworking cigarette packaging as tombstones – a universal symbol of death and visceral reminder of the settled science linking smoking to cancer. The work mystifies viewers by blending a sobering message – a ‘memento mori’ – with the warm, familiar comfort of brands beloved.
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