PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Stranger Fruit is a response to the senseless murders of black men across the nation by police violence.
Lost in the media coverage, lawsuits and protests is the plight of the mother. Who, regardless of the legal outcome, must carry on without her child.
Jon Henry photographs mothers with their sons, reenacting what it must feel like to endure this pain. When the trials are over, the protesters and the news cameras are gone, only the mother is left. Left to mourn, to survive.
The title is inspired by the song, Strange Fruit, written by Abel Meeropol and first sung by Billie Holiday in 1939.
Our design references the religious renaissance paintings the photographs evoke through proportions that match the Gutenberg Bible and gold gilding with fore edge text. When the fore edge is spread words from the song Strange Fruit are revealed. The cover type is set in Textura with a customized capital F.
BOOK INFORMATION
Trim Size: 7.88 x 11.26 inches
Number of Pages: 96
Binding Method: Sewn Hardcover
Paper:
Typefaces:
CREDIT INFORMATION
Creative Director: Caleb Cain Marcus
Art Director:
Book Designer: Caleb Cain Marcus
Jacket/Cover Designer:
Illustrator:
Photographer: Jon Henry
Picture Editor:
Production Director:
Production Coordinator:
Production Artist:
Other Credits: Sabrina Greig - Writer
Stranger Fruit
Category
Book and Cover
Description
Winner - AIGA 50 Books | 50 Covers of 2022
Book Title: Stranger Fruit
Design Firm/Agency: Luminosity Lab
Publisher: Monolith Editions
Author/Editor: Jon Henry
Juror Comments
“The regal purple cloth cover and the gilded fore-edges of the book create a fittingly elegiac container for artist Jon Henry's poignant portraits of Black mothers and their sons that evoke the Pietà.”
“I enjoyed so much of this book. One highlight was the unusual treatment of the type column that became almost a plate or figure itself—a broken form held in place, indented in a way that evoked both a generational shifting and violent rupture.”
Winner Status
- 50 Books Winner
Share