NSPCC advertising campaign

This image comes from an NSPCC advertising campaign. I believe it is performative for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was created in order to get children to speak up against the cruelty they are receiving at home. Therefore, the image is obviously very emotionally inspiring, the image is close up, the girl is young, and the picture clearly communicates her sadness. This image was created in order to inspire change within our society, and therefore, relating to Bolt's comments, it is performative as it relates to the world we live in and the problems children face. It draws upon a very realistic situation and is performative in that it allows the viewer to react emotionally. However, at the same time as the image being highly realistic, the ring over the mouth presents a metaphor for the child's fear of speaking out. This dramatic aspect of the picture makes it all the more performative and effective. She is physically trapped, as well as mentally.

A Performative Image

To my mind a performative image has the potential to change the world, to inspire thought and action in the viewer and to, in some way, affect the world. Bolt writes about the importance of the relationship between images and reality and to my mind this image captures this relationship very well. By presenting very clearly and in an almost 'violent' way the effects that smoking can have on your body, this image (taken from an ad campaign) has the potential to influence the actions of the viewer, therefore making it truly performative. Whether or not the image is able to inspire change is up to the viewer themselves, whether they choose to learn from what has been show to them and use this to in some way change the way that they live. The fact that the image has the potential to inspire this sort of change is what makes it performative and therefore very powerful, illustrating to us Artaud's emphasis on reality within performance. It is the reality within the image that gives it the ability to have such an impact.