Political Psychology - Shadow Puppets

Cover Image for Political Psychology.
Roundabout politics.

I was asked to do this set of illustrations by ME Design for an ebook about (American) political psychology. A rather heavy subject I know, yet after a short discussion with Melin Edomwonyi we decided to use the visual metaphor of shadow puppets. The solution gave us scope to cover all the subject chapters, and allow us to play with the puppets in terms of shadows and photography.

                                         

Fat Cats. They always seem to rise and thrive above
the cauldron of life, whatever is cooking.

The Big Lie. People are less likely to believe small lies
because they tend tell them themselves.
But are more likely to believe a big lie. 

Personal Morality. If you look closely the shadow
of the Shepard's crook is sinister. 

Tea Party. The Good old days, that never were.
The Mad Hatter misses the white rabbit's cup,
and hence the point. 

The War on Women. How to show women as targets. 
A little manipulation of an iconic shooting target.

The Social Contract. Income disparity
The strength of Wall Street bull
with the common man as a ballerina
balancing on its back. 

The Culture Pot. Cracked Humpty. 

Mythologising.
The presidents of Mount Rushmore spouting nonsense. 

Sweet Land of Liberty. The symbol of a welcoming America,
but for whom? 

Laid out puppets on the table at the
photographer's studio

This is ME Design's cover. 

                                         

Political Psychology: New Ideas for Activists by Daniel L. Conover, can be found on Kindle at Amazon here. 

With many thanks to Laura Lewis for the photo shoot. She had to get in some very tricky positions to photograph some of the images.  Her website can be found here. 

Laura Lewis in her studio