Artist Statement

Here lay the remains of devastating fantasies from the past. George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card, and Lois Lowry all envisioned futures in which humanity is enslaved by its hubris, that somewhere along its path to utopia, humanity will inevitably settle for dystopia. The problems that have arisen in the decades since these novels were first published echo the authors’ warnings. The world we live in is no longer as mild or timid in revealing the truth of human nature’s worst qualities. This project, a series of updated cover designs for five important dystopian novels, represents a culmination of humanities’ worst fears; an awakening from fiction into reality.

The covers for 1984 by George Orwell, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, and The Giver by Lois Lowry are influenced by the art and design aesthetics of the Russian Constructivist movement, which provoked action through emotion. 

The design process involves photographing, editing, and constructing the covers to reflect the narrative themes of each novel. They are attention-grabbers, meant to create interest and foreboding in novels that hold more relevance and importance to the present-day than ever before. 

Over the past several decades, authors have voiced their worries about what possible futures the human race may bring into being. 1984 and Ender’s Game envision worlds torn by never-ending wars which focus the whole of humanity under a manipulative and nationalistic government. Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and The Giver demonstrate how humanity’s infatuation with immediate pleasure and uber-equality (socialist values) numb societies of their rights and privileges and lead to totalitarian systems which remove human rights to protect their new societal structures.

Like the novels, this project warns that our world sits on the cusp of self-mutilation, absolute isolation, and total destruction.

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