GE HealthCare’s portraits of nurses have as many brushstrokes as career hours they’ve worked

BBDO New York commissioned artist Tim Okamura for a series of paintings that are intentionally unfinished

Published On
May 09, 2023
A painting of a nurse and a brushstroke counter that reads 42,016

Editor's Pick

This week is National Nurses Week, and we’re already seeing some heartfelt tributes to those indispensable health care workers—including an artful new project from BBDO New York for GE HealthCare that has a data visualization angle.

The agency commissioned Tim Okamura, a Japanese Canadian artist known for his contemporary realist portraits, to paint portraits of nurses. Using an infrared frame mounted to his canvas (developed by experiential partners Dot Dot Dash), BBDO kept track of the number of brushstrokes in real time—then connected that number to the hours worked by the portrait subject.

 
 
 
 

The “Canvases of Care” paintings have been intentionally left unfinished, to reflect the fact that a nurse’s work is never done.

“I love the concept relating the brushstrokes to the number of hours that they’ve put in in their career,” said Okamura. “It just really gives you a sense of how much work, how much dedication, just the commitment to care that each one of these nurses has put in. I feel empathy in all of their faces, and I just feel like I’m seeing some very kind people, like truly kind humans.”

A collection of paintings from the "Canvases of Care" project

Credits

Date
May 09, 2023
Client :
GE Healthcare
Agency :
BBDO-New York
Global Brand Leader :
Kate Rodgers
Web/Digital Editorial Manager :
Kristen Cook
Chief Creative Officer :
Jon Chapman
Creative Director :
Jess Rello
Creative Director :
Rob Concepcion
Jr. Art Director :
Sara Kway
Jr Copywriter :
Danah Fakhreddine
EVP Head of Product & Services :
Gati Desai Curtis
SVP Senior Director :
Lindsey Cash
Account Executive :
Romney Morgan
Head of Connections Strategy :
Enda Conway
Influencer Lead :
Lucy Bennett
Strategic Planner :
Ankit Mehra
EVP Director of Interactive Production :
James Young
Interactive Producer :
Philip Savage
Art Producer :
Jasmine Batista
Jr. Interactive Producer :
Kadin Herring
VP Business Affairs :
Kathleen Bannon
Artist :
Tim Okamura
Production Company :
BBDO Studios
Director :
Kelly Matousek
Supervising Producer :
Matt Brody
Field Producer :
Hannah Squeglia
Director of Photography :
Greg Mezey
Post Producer :
Cathy Ellis
Technology Studio :
Dot Dot Dash
Executive Director Business Development :
Stu Kozlowskl
Executive Director Technology :
Adam Paikowsky
Business Director :
Steven Kasprzyk
Director of Digital Production :
Danish Aziz
Project Manager :
Madison Nouguier
Jr. Project Manager :
Cody Steinfeld

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Project Type