Ogilvy has installed a giant melanoma on Sydney's Tamarama beach to raise awareness about skin cancer at this year’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Bondi.
‘The Spot’ is a black amorphous artwork that changes in shape, size and colour over 18 days, growing from five meters to more than 20 metres wide.
Sculpture by The Sea’s founding CEO and artistic director David Handley said more than 450,000 visitors are expected to visit the exhibition before it closes.
‘The Spot’, which is one of more than 100 sculptures in this year’s exhibition, is able to use the platform of Sculpture by Sea to highlight important sun safety messaging as we head into another Australian Summer,” he told AdNews.
The installation, created by two Ogilvy creatives, Ogilvy Health, Glue Society and The Beautiful and Useful Studio, was constructed from heavy duty fabric to deliver an important message about skin sun safety.
The work, co-funded by Bristol Myers Squibb and La Roche-Posay, helps people remember the ABCDEs of melanoma: asymmetry, border, colour, diameter and evolution.
Free on-site skin checks were also provided by not-for-profit Skin Check Champions over the weekend, along with skin safety education and product sampling.
Ogilvy Sydney's group creative director Andrew Hankin said Sculpture by The Sea is one of the most important events in Sydney.
“It’s not just a great place for a walk and a look at some amazing art, it’s a great place to use art to talk to important issues such as sun safety,” he said.
“When two in three Aussies will get some form of skin cancer in their lives it feels like constantly raising awareness for this issue is important.
“And using art at the beginning of summer to do that feels like an authentic way to get the message across.”
This comes after Hankin’s ‘We’re fryin’ out here’ was exhibited in 2014 to warn people about the dangers of tanning.
The oversize frying pan, created in collaboration with SunSense, was installed at the same beach to communicate the message in a non-traditional and interesting way.
The two-kilometre coastal walk is considered the world’s largest annual free outdoor sculpture event, hosting installations by artists from 16 countries, including China, Japan, India and Ukraine.
The exhibition runs until November 4.
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