Blizzard Entertainment and Amnesty International Take Us to Church

Fresh out of Blizzard Entertainment and 72andSunny, “Cathedral of Diablo” recounts the mythos of Diablo IV through artwork in a French Baroque church that dates from the 17th century. 

Created by painter Adam Miller, the art adorns Saint-Omer’’s Chapelle des Jésuites. The gothic scenes start out looking typically biblical, then get more folkloric in a modern sense. Their function is to introduce the video game’s villain, Lilith.

Fun facts: In Talmudic texts, Lilith is the Biblical Adam’s first wife, created as his equal. There’s some dispute about who gets to be on top during sex, and she eventually leaves him to get it on with some fallen angels, ultimately becoming the mother of the chief demon who haunts boys that masturbate. It’s only after this failed first union that Adam complains to God, who makes Eve out of his rib so she’ll be neatly subordinate.

Given the nature of Adam’s complaint, and the way God addresses it, we personally feel Lilith had good reason to ditch him. It only seems fair that if Diablo IV’s going to paint her as the ultimate Big Bad, people might as well know who they’re actually up against. Especially given that we’re just a hair out of International Women’s Day.

Miller and his team spent 30 days creating 20 paintings for “Cathedral of Diablo,” and the final product spanned 160 feet across 2400 square feet of canvas. It really is stunning stuff, Lilith propaganda aside.

This BTS reel takes an in-depth look at the campaign’s creation:

Meanwhile, in Peru, Amnesty International gives us “The Best Religion is Love.” Created by Havas Group, the work uses shots of stained-glass windows in churches, illuminated by natural light that generates the colors of the Pride flag.

Click the images to enlarge:

The campaign promotes a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Peru. The creative approach is meant to suggest that love—in this case, represented by Pride’s recognizable shades—is the most meaningful foundation on which to build your figurative house of worship.

Diablo and Amnesty provide an intriguing contrast. The decision to place advertising in a church leverages a more general quest for meaning. And while Diablo sustains quite staid ideas about fallen women from the perspective of Abrahamic religion, it’s also a funny choice. The Jesuit order was Roman Catholic, and Lilith isn’t part of their mythology (though she’s convenient for propping up the evils of masturbation. Honestly: Do you really want to defeat a villain whose great gift to the world was self-pleasure?). Still, the gist is understandable: In “Cathedral of Diablo,”Lilith is connected to a long lineage of relatable religious belief, making her feel like a tangible evil.

Amnestyls “The Best Religion is Love” appears simpler but surprisingly more nuanced. Peru is a conservative nation, so the tagline and the use of stained glass windows hits right where it hurts: Faith shouldn’t be about following dogmatic tenets to the exclusion of all else; it should have some kind of cohesive community function.

Depending on who you are and how you were raised, the use of a church in this sense is contentious. People often feel either excluded or accepted there. But given churches’ often critical role in bringing communities together one day a week, they are, in the most ideal sense, sites where one should be able to feel like they’re coming home, no matter who they are.

With the exception of Lilith, I guess.

CREDITS

“The Best Religion is Love”
CCO: Mauricio Fernández Maldonado
Creative Director: Moisés Urrutia
Art Director: Luis Rios
Senior Creative: Juan Carlos Gallardo
Photography: Luis Cisneros / Fabrizzio Hidalgo