The below is a representation of the Soviet Union in all its “splendour,” including the heads of Lenin, Stalin, Kruschev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev, a copy of Das Kapital, a Lada, Russian Vodka, a factory, Gulag, launch button, IOUs, Warsaw Pact flags, etc. That little caption was written by yours truly, too, as was the concept and research behind the project. Why does it exist? In October of 2012 Print magazine released their "International" issue, meaning that they stowed their usual contributors' list and sought out new designers and illustrators from outside the United States to work with. The result: I received six full pages of the magazine to fill with a visual essay on the subject of my choice. I chose to make stacked-symbol personifications of international political units, institutions and phenomena, past and present, all under the title "International Bodies." This print, of course, was my favourite in that series. Printed in an open edition, signed and dated on reverse.
