Social Work Advert

Dave McKean

Dave McKean is a graphic designer, illustrator, photographer and comic book artist, born on the 29th December 1963 in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Many of his works consist of paintings, photographs, collages, digital art and sculptures.
He’s works are contemporary with modern elements. I was interested in David McKean’s work after coming across his artwork through the Internet. I thought it would be great research to contribute in my school project, which is to create an Internet Blog


One of his artwork, which I’ll be analyzing, is Dave McKean’s ‘Social Work Advert’. The artwork is based on the isolation of a disabled person and how a social worker helped. It’s been generalized under a character called Sonya who was born with mild spinal damage. The main reason for using the work is the consistent use of symbolism.


The main symbolism of a map in the background shows the journey, which Sonya takes to break her isolation. The use of a signpost at the top of the poster shows Sonya’s lost in direction, a photograph of Sonya while she was young is very old and indicates her years of being disabled.


As we read down the poster following it almost like a comic book. It shows how Sonya from being a young child in the photograph, now spends her time as a 37-year-old disabled lady, just mainly watching T.V. and a statement ‘mum did so much for her maybe too much’ is a bold statement showing that Sonya has lost her independence. Her mother dies and this is symbolized as gravestones on the map background. The door symbolizes Sonya in full isolation and wasn’t too comfortable to open up.


The symbol of Coronation Street shows that both Sonya and the social worker had something in common; it was almost like an open door for the social worker to be able to enter and gain Sonya’s trust. The social worker was also able to persuade Sonya to meet with other people in her case, with the condition that Sonya has to take a taxi to the meetings, meaning she was still uncomfortable with the rest of the public, but had showed progress.


The highlight of the piece is the bright red bus, where Sonya is highlighted riding it, It also shows a compass symbolizing that Sonya has found her way, it can be contrasted with the image at the top of the poster of a sign post. On the map it also shows houses symbolizing the houses of people who used to be in her case.


The artist is trying to communicate how social work could be so important to a person’s life that may be lost in this World. The media used could have been Photoshop, illustrator or any other photo editing software. I can suggest illustrator due to the path type text done at the bottom of the poster.


I think in today’s World, many disabled people are disregarded and could feel isolated from the public causing depression and isolation; the artist tries to illustrate how social work could improve someone’s life.