What makes us people beautiful?
Client: dm Slovakia Year: 2022
Art direction: Sasha Chagina
Illustration: Sasha Chagina
Execution: Jan Vajcko Vajsábel
Photos: Martin Sirotny.
Mural & storefronts for dm Slovakia
Context
dm drogerie markt is a chain of retail stores across Europe offering cosmetics, health care items & household products.
In 2022 for their year long campaign POWER OF INSPIRATION they decided to bring art to the streets & the windows of their stores. Artists in 11 countries were to answer the question “What makes us people beautiful?”
The project took 6 months between initial briefing and upon completion.
Task:
Develop illustration style for the campaign.
Create an art piece for the 270m2 wall in the centre of Bratislava answering the question “What makes us people beautiful“.
Make adaptations of design for 5 dm store fronts across Slovakia, 4 of which would be using window stickers & 1 hand-painted.
Execute hand-painted storefront in Nitra in collaboration with Jan Vajcko Vajsábel.
Take part in PR events, photoshoots, video recordings, interview for the articles and a podcast
“This mural is about diversity in togetherness, about belonging while being different. I believe that the ability to accept & respect each other is what makes us people truly beautiful.
I also believe that this ability has the power of transforming our society into a better and healthier place. The place where everyone is loved and welcomed the unique way they are.”
What makes us people beautiful? - Artist’s statement
Beauty, in my opinion, lies in diversity.
I believe that each of us is different and unique in their own way and together we form a beautiful whole.
Illustration portrays people of different age, gender, colour and style on the crossroad in the city. A green light on a zebra crossing is a metaphor for their freedom to be the way they are, while living by each other's side. The person walking by is meant to feel part of the group, one of the people of this city.
This mural is about diversity in togetherness, about belonging while being different. I believe that the ability to accept & respect each other is what makes us people truly beautiful.
I also believe that this ability has the power of transforming our society into a better and healthier place. The place where everyone is loved and welcomed the unique way they are.
Location
The wall is located in the centre of Bratislava right next to the parking lot and busy city roads. The motif of zebra crossing fits well into this environment. As the mural reflects the everyday life of streets around, a passer by can have a moment of recognition of themselves or a fellow city dweller in a moment of symmetry between art and life.
Photos from personal archive. By Jonathan Curry.
“It is a promotion by DM, i.e. an advertisement. But it looks so much like a street art mural! You might not agree with it’s inclusion on this page but you’ll have to admit that it has blurred the line between “commerical” and “artwork”.”
Realisation
The project took 6 months between initial briefing and upon completion. The concept development, approval & creation of final digital artwork for the wall took 2 months. Within next 2 months adaptations were created for the store fronts and at the beginning of March it went from screens to the walls.
It took 15 days, team of 4 people and 60 litres of paints in 17 shades to create a 270 m2 mural. There’s 11 characters & 1 dog on the mural, the tallest figure is 12 metres tall.
Photos from dm Slovakia archive. By Martin Sirotny.
“It took 15 days, team of 4 people and 60 litres of paints in 17 shades to create a 270 m2 mural. There’s 11 characters & 1 dog on the mural, the tallest figure is 12 metres tall.”
“Mural portrays people of different age, gender, colour and style on the crossroad in the city.
A green light on a zebra crossing is a metaphor for their freedom to be the way they are, while living by each other’s side.
The person walking by is meant to feel part of the group, one of the people of this city.”
Mural making time-lapse video & podcast about the process behind (SK/CZ)
Team
An incredible team of professionals was working on this project with me: Jano Wajcko Vajsábel with a team/realisation, Martin Sirotny/photography, Zeldeo video makers/video, for DM team the best ever team managers Diana Hežel a Magdaléna Korbová.
Photos from dm Slovakia archive. By Martin Sirotny.
Diana Hežel - the beating heart of the project - project manager from client’s side.
From the left: Jano Wajcko Vajsábel (mural realisation), Sasha Chagina (me - illustration), Ján Zelina ( from Zeldeo video makers), Diana Hežel and Magdaléna Korbová from dm . Martin Sirotný is behind the camera.
Jano Wajcko Vajsábel with a team brought mural to life.
Unfortunately, the wall of the mural was an advertisement space and when the rent period expired the wall was painted over with original colour. Nevertheless, I like to think that mural is still there, just under a few layers of a thin paint.
As for the storefront designs, they are still there (January 2023).
Store fronts
Context
The artwork created for the mural was also adopted for dm storefronts in 5 cities across Slovakia: Nitra, Banská Bystrica, Žilina, Košice a Bratislava. For each of them was created a separate version of the design. The design had to take up a maximum of 50% of the window to allow the daylight to come through.
The storefront in Nitra was hand painted on white foil, while others were printed.
Concept
I wanted the designs to respect and reflect each unique location of the store. So each storefront reflects nature and architectural sights specific for the location.
Store front design for Banská Bystrica features a town castle and mountains in the background.
The girl in Slovak traditional dress from the mural appears in each city in a different dress - specific for a particular region.
Banská Bystrica region
Košice region
Žilina region
Nitra region
Visualisation of shop front designs for dm store in Žilina
Detail: Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Žilina
A fragment of shop front design for dm store in Košice
Detail: St. Elisabeth's Cathedral, Košice
Fragment of a store front in Bratislava
Hand-painted store front in Nitra
Initially I wasn’t sure if painting on the foil would make sense, I was afraid that the quality wouldn’t be good enough. After spending 3 days painting outside of dm store I changed my mind. People walking by were happy to see the process, they would stop & watch or engage in conversation.
dm’s idea to literally bring art to the streets turned out great.
Photos Martin Sirotny for dm Slovakia
“Look! They are painting, isn’t it nice? It’s so beautiful.” - hundreds of people passed by and this was their reaction in 90% cases. Children were the most excited - “Woooooow!”, they would stop by and watch us. One 7 year old asked his mum if he can paint on the wall of his room too? Here’s power of inspiration everyone :-D