YOU MAY HAVE BEEN mystified by billboards like the one shown above that are popping up all over London. One has been erected in Graham Road, Hackney E8.
They are part of a publicity campaign by anti-slavery charity Unseen, to help to raise the £800,000 needed to save its Modern Slavery Helpline with the help of Aesop, a Shoreditch ad agency.
The poems are inspired by stories told by survivors of modern slavery. They will change during the run-up to Anti-Slavery Day this Friday 18 October 2019.
The Aesop team will cover some words on the billboards with green tape on Thursday night. The romantic phrase “I lost myself to the nightlife and bright lights in London” will, for example, transform into the disturbing “I lost my life in London.”
Got it? Nope, neither has Loving Dalston but never mind, let’s hope the creatives know what they’re doing, and more than £200,000 has already been raised, because it is a good cause.
David Altheer 141019
* To donate to the Modern Slavery Helpline, text 70085 with HELPLINE 5 to give £5; HELPLINE 20 to give £20, etc. Or go to the webpage Aesop.
* Photographs © DavidAltheer@gmail.com, and for sale for reproduction. Bigger format versions are usually available.
* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained. Most photographs can be visually enlarged by pressing on them.
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