April 4, 2018: Today is the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. I am pulling out from my archive shelve ” The Civil Rights Reader – American Literature From Jim Crow to Reconciliation “ book. Editor, Julie Buckner Armstrong, associated editor, Amy Schmidt. I was commissioned the book cover’s illustration by The Georgia University Press, published in Athens, Georgia, Dec. 2008.
Prior creating the illustration I submitted few pencil ideas sketches, they were presented to a school class. Their choice convinced the published staff for the right pick, it was a none traditional way from how this topic has being represented in the past, [ it is always the symbolic image of the famous march]. It was not so obvious to have it accepted, but why be a ‘slave’ of a déja-vu imagery while wanting to express specifically the theme of ‘freedom’… besides, my picture was truly inspired by documented historical facts that demonstrated how repression and control was so brutally implemented. An image that shows restless physical and mind control justifies in essence the ” civil rights movement “. It seemed to me more telling than the one of people marching on a road.
This book cover has been chosen by The Association of American University Presses’ 2009 Book, Jacket and Journal Show – ( in the Jacket and Cover Division.)
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Dessin . drawing . original linoleum cut and woodcut . linogravure originale et gravures sur bois . linóleo grabado original . incisione originale . xilografie. Copyright © Raymond Verdaguer 2008
