James Dean Bradfield - ‘Even in Exile’

In the distant, pre-pandemic, times of 2019 I was approached by James Dean Bradfield (of the Manic Street Preachers) and asked if I’d be interested in doing the album artwork for a new solo album he was working on about the murdered Chilean musician/activist Victor Jara - it was to be with music written by him and words by the writer, and his life-long friend, Patrick Jones. For me to take on a project it has to tick a couple of my interest boxes, at least, but this one was ticking every box and bringing others of its own.

I was initially tasked with working up some ideas for the cover and then taking it from there. I’ve always been influenced by the aesthetics of political protest - the banners, the murals, posters, flyers, everything - and so the visual starting points for this, a reflection on a man murdered in 1973 Chilean coup d’état, were always going to be clear and strong. To call Jara a legend feels like overstating and understating his legacy at the same time. This was a man of profound political influence with an admirable and unwavering commitment to his people, his culture and his music. His single-minded commitment to his music was also a commitment to those people and in the potential to create a fairer society - something that finally seemed possible following the election of Salvador Allende to the presidency in 1970. I’ll spare you any more of the history lesson but I’d recommend the recent Netflix documentary ‘Massacre at the Stadium’ to find out more.

Whilst I often work quite graphically the only way I could really process the idea of making the cover artwork was to physically make a full-scale artwork and photograph it. I proposed making a large portrait of Jara, by hacking in to an old concrete-rendered wall and painting in to it to draw out the detail. My thinking was to reference and emulate the political protest murals you can find in Chile to this day and in some way also capture the brutality of the ending of Jara’s life through this violent action of carving in to the wall. It also had to be beautiful to truly reflect the man, his life and his music. There’s a great article here by Florencia San Martín ‘Aesthetics of Disobedience’ about Chilean protest murals, and the remaking of a Brigada Ramona Parra mural in New York.

At James’ recommendation I approached the El Sueño Existe festival in Machynlleth - a celebration of Latin American music, culture and politics, inspired by the life of Victor Jara. My proposition to them was that I make the work somewhere there and it become a permanent public work in support of their festival and in memory of Jara. They were very supportive of the idea and we had all-but agreed a site when the pandemic hit and everything ground to a halt.

Consequently, - and in answer to the many questions I’ve had on social media about where the work is - I had to make it on private land that I could access within the pandemic restrictions.

After agreeing the cover idea with James he asked if I would, in fact, be interested in doing the full album layout - cover, lyric sheet, CD booklet, vinyl stickers, cassette cover, labels etc. Quite apart from being interested in that as a proposition, to take on the entire thing really fits the way I like to work - to view all of those different elements in the way I might view a site for a performance - how every element can feed each other. What also came with that was a request to come up with a logo for the imprint/label he was releasing the album on - MontyRay. So here it is…

Whilst I was in the process of making the mural piece, at the same time I was working on an additional work that - at the time - I had no idea would actually get used anywhere. The idea was to take a classical guitar and engrave a portrait of Jara in to its body. In Chile, the raised guitar has become a symbol of protest, often accompanied by performances of Jara’s songs, and the idea of literally embodying Jara in the fabric of a guitar seemed entirely in-keeping with the man, his legacy and this idea of protest.

You can see the guitar in action in this session James did for Absolute Radio from the Manic’s studio (second song, about 3m 50secs in, but you may aswell watch the whole thing as it’s great):

The final twist in the creative tale was a request from James for me to photograph him in front of the artwork. The music industry waits for no man, or pandemic, and so despite the world being on lockdown things were moving apace towards the album’s release and promotional shots were needed. I was only too happy to oblige and so all those shots you’ve seen of James in front of the work are what came out of that session. There are loads more, including a session we did over at the Manic’s studio, and I’ll probably add a few more as they appear in press and online but right now I can only really post the ones that have already appeared. A personal highlight was having one of those images accompany an excellent review of the album in Q Magazine (in what, sadly, transpired to be the penultimate issue of the magazine - another victim of Covid. RIP Q).

So, go and listen to the album. I’m biased, but it’s genuinely great. Go and lose yourself in the life of an incredible individual, retold through the hands of a talented musician and a gifted writer.

(And don’t just listen to it on Spotify, go and buy it, otherwise you’ll miss out on all my hard work in the CD booklet and lyric insert!)