Who knows, but anything's worth a try, right? In that spirit, Underexposed, a new photographic project launching at the end of the week, seeks to "celebrate the talents and achievements of Black British African Caribbean actors" by putting up 30 pictures of figures ranging from Ashley Walters, the rapper turned film star, to David Oyelowo, the first black actor to play an English monarch at the RSC, and the award-winning EastEnders actress, Diane Parish. Alongside them will be inspirational insights from each actor.

They are all evocatively lit portraits that reveal the physical beauty of the sitter, but when the average punter stares at them during a mind-numbing tube journey, will the message really hit home?

Well, I'm inclined to think that we can't under-estimate the power of images in our image-obsessed society.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, when The Supremes - whose cultural significance will be explored in a new V&A exhibition next month - burst on to the pop scene, many, including the likes of Oprah Winfrey, welcomed these women as trailblazerse, changing people's perceptions of what black meant just by being present and prominent in a country that was struggling with the racially fraught backdrop of the American Civil Rights movement.

This London project is the brinchild of Fraser James, a black actor who was spurred into action after  hearing about the New Year shootings of two black teenage girls in Birmingham in 2003. Listening to the radio phone-in's afterwards, he said he kept hearing comments on the dearth of role models. So he organised this artistic endeavour of displaying images at the National Portrait Gallery, London Underground and, most poignantly, on outdoor hoardings near Peckham Library, not far from those recorded moments of Damilola Taylor's last walk home before he was murdered.

The fact that these images will infuse our daily lives in London can't be a bad thing. Many people's interest will be piqued, youngsters might absorb the positive message subliminally, and the rise in visibility of postive black figures alone is refreshing.

But it is not enough in itself, of course. Problems within the African Caribbean community don't just stem from the lack of role models but from a range of socio-economic factors including real material deprivation. It's useful then that the photographic project will be accompanied by a wider initiative aimed to help young people develop skills in acting, writing and photography.

To go back to Ashley Walters, perhaps his fate in 'Bullet Boy' - the film documenting gang culture in South London and how easy it is for a black teenager to loose his life - would have been very different if he'd had a positive role model - as well as the finacial, mentoring or educational means of escaping this dangerous world.