The concept originally came about from a small fu-dog statue that my family keeps in the foyer of my house. For the longest time, the only things I knew about it was that it represented something from China and that it made a rather good doorstop. Only from a recent course in Chinese civilizations did I discover the role it played in Chinese culture and mythology, and the Group agreed that the fu-dog would be an excellent example of the historical damage of removing a similar object from a historical site, with a not-so-happy outcome as I experienced.

The Group decided to keep the ad as minimalist as possible, to offset the “exotic” lure of the golden fu-dog. Presented against a sterile and cold wash of white, the only contextual clues as to what this object might be are the whispers of text around the statue. However, these pieces of text are inadequate to draw any conclusions about the golden, mysterious animal, and in removing this treasure from its context, we lose a far more important treasure, never to be regained again...

About me:

Born and raised in Massachusetts, I am a 19-year young sophomore at Boston University, studying Film and Television in the School of Communication.

The group heard about the contest through our communications teacher Kathryn Burak, who used the contest in conjunction with her lessons on how to create an effective public announcement campaign. I personally was interested in the challenge of promoting the awareness of a relatively obscure problem in the world. Also, I’ve always dabbled in art, and it gave me a good opportunity to use those skills into creating a piece that can be admired for more than aesthetics.

Boston University is a large metropolitan school that prides itself in not only training its students in the tools used in their prospective fields, but educating them about how to employ these skills to tackle the problems of the future.

Personally, I appreciate how my specific school has sharpened my communication skills, an essential tool in anyone’s cognitive toolbox.

Again, thank you for this opportunity!

Joseph Chan