Thursday, May 28, 2009

“Cartagena Paper Girl” Book Cover Illustration



The Cartagena Paper Girl
, by Iris Gomez, explores the themes of immigrant Latino culture, family relations, and mental illness, set against the backdrop of 1970's Miami. In the story, the teenage daughter, Gabi, struggles to hold her family together as her once stable father, Roberto, descends helplessly into madness.

Art director Brigid Pearson requested an image of Gabi swinging around the family's backyard Mango tree, fading into a background texture of classified want-ads, which her father repeatedly forces Gabi to scour.

I think I must have searched out and photographed just about every Mango tree in Sarasota, and I never did find the perfect one, so in the end I had to make a composite of many, many Mango trees, which is what you see here. Fortunately, the want-ads and the young woman were easier to find.

CLIENT: GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING
ART DIRECTOR: BRIGID PEARSON

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