While getting to know reggae better I discovered Desmond Dekker’s song called Israelites, I fell in love with the song. Great music doesn’t age. Israel, and Africa, are important to Rastafarians and reggae so I decided to paint this gorgeous bird, a hoopoe, Israel’s national bird. (I didn’t draw the Jamaican’s hummingbird because somebody already did it.) Reggae can make you to fly over the oceans just to enjoy the music the fullest on its birthplace, Jamaica.
This poster is titled as ‘Freedom’ as it depicts the freedom of mind from all the sorrow and distress, by listening to the Reggae music. The birds represent the freedom and are colored as red, yellow, and green which are the colors of the Rasta flag. The poster also depicts the growth of the mind. As Bob Marley quotes “None but ourselves can free our minds.”, the poster depicts a man holding the top part of his head to free his mind from all the negative thoughts.
Love will always be king and reggae music was built upon love and bringing people together.
This heartwarming atmospheric poster is another way I’m exploring the Reggae phenomenon. The backdrop is the beginning of 80s – me sitting in a sunny living room in my birth town Riga, being 3 years old, playing with the swedish cubes, retro music on the background. I’m happy! I love this design, brings me back to that moment.
Reggae is a tradition and growing up like a vast tree.
I used modular design approach to focus on the global issues that are expressed in Reggae. The design is divided into parts which showcase Reggae music and Jamaican culture along with elements that address problems ranging from poverty and health to climate change by referring to sustainable development goals (SDG). Together, all these parts create holistic pattern which stands for the role of music as a mobilizing force in the international attitude towards solving humankind problems and making sustainable development earn the world’s attention. This pattern also portrays a flag which stripes are going up to the right corner symbolizing growth. I also decided to merge Reggae-related elements with contemporary design to represent this genre as one which has vibrant history and is up to date at the same time. You can decipher parts of the poster into elements like vinyl records, palms, Jamaican flag and a boom box. A slightly different tints of traditional red, green and yellow colors were chosen to add freshness. I wanted to express how the fusion of visual art with the deep sense of Reggae music and the vibe of Jamaican culture can make this world better by informing people about the SDGs.
Let’s feel reggae,feel happy and love.
While I was creating this poster, i felt really inspired by the little prince story from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry book. I wanted to tell, that reggae world is like a different planet, is something that is always near us and its always somewhere close, doesn’t matter where you are, in which part of our planet. Reggae music is something unique, something like from a different universe, but in the same time feels so natural, like the beat of our hearts. It’s teaching us how to be better persons, like the little prince does.
This is a typographic poster design. In the poster it simply gives the message `Reggae Music Will Make you happy’ in a creative design. So, the message is that Reggae music is a therapy that can change a person’s mood into happy. The ultimate message from the poster to the world is, whatever mood you’re on, whatever situation you’re in, listening to reggae will makes you happy. With happiness there is peace.
Colors used are the colors of reggae culture.
A type-based atmospheric Dancing Poster is another way I’m exploring the Reggae phenomenon. This Poster isn’t afraid to get dirty, minimal and explore a literal twist from the center outwards. The challenge was to capture a very particular vibe and aesthetic with no other visuals but letters and textures. The backdrop is the beginning of 80s – me sitting in a sunny living room in my birth town Riga, being 3 years old, playing with the swedish cubes, retro music on the background. I’m happy! I love this design, brings me back to that moment.