Jack’s Journey

This image grew into a full blown project for my MA Illustration course - a boardgame for kids in Sri Lanka called ‘Jack’s Journey’. Its purpose is to normalise the idea of adopting stray dogs.

The Problem

Many families aspire to own pedigree dogs as a sign of wealth + status, but this leads to a) inhumane puppy mills and b) local street dogs being treated like vermin in comparison and not seen as potential family pets (when really they make brilliant pets).

In an ideal world, families would see the need for homes for stray dogs as more worthwhile than buying a pedigree as a status symbol because ultimately a dog is for companionship, for children to learn how to care for others and to also learn important life lessons such as dealing with grief. A dog is a dog no matter what pedigree!

The Objective

To normalise the ownership of street dogs by representing them as household pets in media and aim this especially at young children so that they push their parents and advocate for adoption.


My project focused on the reaction of children of a certain age to rich imagery and the impact certain messaging can have. Indeed during testing, one of the younger kids questioned me about why a shopkeeper would throw water at a dog, and why this would make the dog unhappy and run away. I felt that was a breakthrough moment, because it got him thinking about how our actions make animals feel. This was one of my hopes for the piece.

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