Droga5 New York commissions The Glue Society to create sculpture and film for JPMorgan Chase

Award-winning Australian art and creative collective The Glue Society has created a sculpture and film for JPMorgan Chase’s latest campaign for its Second Chance Initiative via creative agency Droga5 New York.

An estimated one in three Americans have criminal records and millions have as a result faced significant barriers to finding meaningful employment. The paperwork involved in trying to clear their name, and expunge their records proves financially and logistically impossible – leaving them incapable of finding work that mirrors their level of training.

Coinciding with Second Chance month, JPMorgan Chase and Droga5 chose a pioneering approach to communication – commissioning an art installation and film to highlight the scale of the issue, aiming to both raise awareness and prompt the need for change.

Six months ago, they approached The Glue Society with the brief to create 38 human-shaped sculptures – one for each state that hasn’t passed the Clean Slate legislation, a ruling which would automatically clear criminal records once people complete their sentences.

The sculptures themselves were inspired by individuals waiting for their second chance to come, with the title of the artwork becoming ‘The Waiting Workforce’.

It was designed, built and installed by The Glue Society team in conjunction with Biscuit Filmworks/Revolver and Aardvark Studios – and is made with over a million pages of real/redacted expungement documents.

The paperwork represents how the expensive legal process behind clearing criminal records can hold people back from getting jobs, housing opportunities, and even voting. And the ideal goal is that each time a State passes Clean Slate legislation, another statue will be removed until there are none left.

The installation is currently on display outside the National Constitution Center, part of Philadelphia’s Independence Plaza – and in conjunction with an accompanying film highlighting the stories of many people affected, the hope is to highlight the need for change and get millions back into the workplace.

Philadelphia was chosen to launch the campaign because it was the first State to pass Clean Slate laws. And the installation was opened on the same day as JPMorgan Chase’s Second Chance Business Coalition Conference.

Says Scott Bell, chief creative officer at Droga5: “This is a prime example of how we can use creativity to affect change – even though millions of people are suffering to get back into society, millions more don’t even know about this problem. We hope that The Waiting Workforce can shine a light on the dire need for the remaining states to pass Clean Slate legislation.”

JPMorgan Chase estimates that helping people with criminal records re-join the workforce would add $87 billion annually to the US economy. And significantly the bank has committed to 10% of its new hires in the US annually being people with previous convictions.

Client: JPMorgan Chase

Agency: Droga5 New York
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Bell
Executive Creative Director: Kevin Brady
Group Creative Director: Haywood Watkins III
Creative Directors: Tom Coleman, Derek Lui, Ben Kay
Art Directors: Ross Weaver, Mollie Bond
Copywriters: Aaron Araya, Kevin Kearse, Jacques Wortsman
Group Design Director: Mark Yoon
Designer: Andrew Diemer, Catarina Sterlacci

Art & Directing Collective: The Glue Society
Production: Biscuit Filmworks x Revolver
Production Designer: Damien Drew
DOP: Luke McCoubrey