Photos That Reveal the Hidden Nature of Depression When Turned Upside Down

Here’s an example of photography being used to deliver a powerful message in a creative way: Singapore-based suicide prevention organization Samaritans of Singapore recently ran a series of ads recently that highlight the challenge of spotting depression.

It’s a series of three photographs put together by creative director Erik Vervroegen and his team at Publicis Singapore. Each photograph shows a message scratched or written onto a wall. The message is a “happy” message when the photograph is viewed normally, but flip it upside down and a new message appears.

Here’s what the photograph above looks like when flipped:

A little message in the corner of the advertisement reads, “The signs are there if you read them. Help us save a life before it’s too late.”

Here are the other two photographs (and their flipped versions) in the campaign:

Ads of the World shares this message from the creator of the images:

Pain isn’t always obvious. To show how we often miss the warning signs, we created ambigrams and printed the ads upside down in magazines. At first glance, the reader sees a positive phrase. But when the ad is inverted, the copy reveals a sentiment quite the opposite – revealing the hidden feelings of those who are lost and depressed.

The writings found in the photographs are “ambigrams“, or words (or other symbolic representations) that continue to have meaning (whether the same or different) when they’re viewed from multiple perspectives.

(via It’s Nice That and Ads of the World)