Fragile Masculinity

The best thing about creativity is that you can find it anywhere, even in the least likely of places. As strange as it may sound, the piece of creativity I am about to share today is proudly displayed in the men’s room of The Lumsden Freehouse, a pub in Auckland, New Zealand. Sadly, the artist of the masterpiece left without claiming credit for his work or even giving it a title and entrusted it to the pub as a gift.

Fragile Masculinity is the product of a rather angry New Zealander who did the honour of creating something so captivating that the owner of the pub immediately knew what he had to do – frame the tour de force – and leave it for the world to discover. To explain further, he saw that someone had punched a hole in the men’s room. Instead of putting up a sign requesting people not to punch the wall or even repairing it, he decided on an incredibly genius idea. He framed the hole in the men’s washroom and called it Fragile Masculinity – Artist Unknown (2018).

What I found most creative was his sense of humour. The hole became a sort of memorabilia, and people from all over the world had good laugh whenever someone tweeted the photo of the ‘masterpiece’. I can imagine the number of people like myself who were curious to know more about the pub came up with the idea and searched for it online. That is organic interest in a brand!

Muhammad Ali Khan is Associate Director Creative & Strategy at Spectrum VMLY&R. He also teaches in the Masters of Advertising programme at SZABIST-Karachi.