Title: The Journalist and the Murderer
Exercise: Take any book you like and make a suitable cover illustration using two or three relevant elements…you need a picture that has not been seen hundreds of times before, but is not so oblique or unrecognisable that a viewer could not make the necessary associations.
Approach: I chose to work with Jane Malcolm’s book ‘The Journalist and the Murderer’ because it is a complex and fascinating story. I was interested in seeing if I could capture the different elements of betrayal, murder, ethics, journalism, life-writing and the law. I know that journalists probably seldom use a pen these days but I felt it had enough symbolic value to work, and I was loathed to cover my keyboard in ink or fake blood! The knife is perhaps a little obvious but the crime featured in the book does involve stabbings. I included text to try and illustrate what for me is the central issue of the book about how people respond to what is written about them.
