Elena Goodinson is the Art Buyer of Havas Lynx EU and responsible for overseeing the budget, planning, organisation, shoot production and supervision of art buying for the agency. With over 20 years’ experience working within her field in London, Elena has commissioned and produced photo shoots across all media.

For three decades now the Havas Lynx Group has been an advocate of positive and helpful change. This motto of ‘Helpful Change’ is intrinsic to our core values; it is what we stand firm to and what we believe in. This belief manifests itself through all of the work we create and it is at the heart of everything we do. Through our campaigns, tools and communications, we help to change the lives of patients and healthcare professionals around the world. We are proud of this philosophy and so we decided to speak to a group of talented regional visual artists, to offer them a platform and invite them to interpret Helpful Change through the medium of photography. The brief was simple; to bring our motto to life through their own personal vision. The exhibition launch was hosted right here in Manchester at our Princess Street HQ.

Our creative teams produce some of the most inspired and creative concepts in pharma advertising, and in my role as art buyer, I am tasked with the role of recommending the talents of photographers and illustrators worldwide.

We chose the medium of photography as an art form for this exhibition as it is proven that photography has the power to change the way we perceive the world around us. It is a powerful medium that can offer the viewer both an objective and subjective experience. It acts as a visual conduct to inform, transport and inspire. Within each human mind there is a profound creative eye, a critical sensibility that holds a mirror up to the world we live in and questions human temporal and spiritual existence. We sourced our visual talent by their exemplary gift and commitment to their art, their creative vision and their achievements to date.

The material exhibited within the show was a diverse offering. The brief of Helpful Change was received and interpreted by each individual artist through a variety of subject matter and their own distinctive style. Photographers Rebecca Lupton, Gwen Jones, Karen Rangeley and Jonathan Clover created and shared their pictorial documenting of the valuable work carried out by local charities in the communities of the North West. The theatrical, flamboyant style of Layla Sailor focuses on the abstract by creating playful shapes and forms that explore the themes of micro versus macro. Tabitha Jussa’s original socio-political photo-composites encapsulate the psychological benefits of environmental change as do the romantic snapshots of Charlie Hitchen; that reveal the inner-workings of the wandering, searching, romantic mind.  Manchester’s own Shaw and Shaw, lead us down a sensory path of nostalgia to more innocent times, successfully combining their craftsmanship of sublime colour and exquisite perspective.

The night was a resounding success and we achieved what we set out to do; to bring our ideology of Helpful Change to life through powerful visual interpretation. In doing so we also celebrated and supported all the diverse talent and creativity the North West has to offer

We would like to give huge thank you to all the photographers and visual artists who created and shared their works with us. Penny Mercer, Ruby Robinson, Anna Columbine, Lasma Poisa, Stewart Honeyman and and Jess Beardsmore.

We love to create, to inspire and to lead through our visual creative contribution. We are planning several exhibitions throughout 2016 here at Havas Lynx HQ and invite all of you to join us and celebrate the energy of creativity.

Watch highlights from the evening here.

Image credit:  Lasma Poisa