International Reggae Poster Contest

19 posters for the Reggae Hall of Fame foundation. A tribute to the historical figures of Reggae music.

A series of posters created for the Reggae Hall of Fame.

Creating posters for the International Reggae Poster Contest and the Reggae Hall of Fame foundation is an ongoing project of mine that keeps me busy and excited since 2012. I am lucky enough to enjoy the friendship of Maria and Michael, the two founders of the foundation, and that gives me the privilege to have access to precious sources of information and valuable material about the history and culture of Reggae.

Whoever has studied the history of Reggae and the related Jamaican music genres has discovered a real gem of popular culture. Reggae isn't just a music genre. It has been the voice and expression of the masses of the African population in the Caribbean. It's a lifestyle, a political cult, even a religion. And the most impressive thing is that Reggae has managed to reach a much larger share of the world's population than initially expected. It started in the townships of Kingston, but very soon became the music and the symbol of the depressed person all over the world. It's a cry for liberty, for peace, and for justice.

Musically, Reggae is rooted in the rich traditions of African American and Latin music. Ska, Mento, Calypso, R'n'B, Soul, Jazz, and Gospel are the foundations on which Reggae is built. One of the most easily recognizable elements is offbeat rhythms: staccato chords played on the guitar or piano (or both) on the offbeats of the measure, often referred to as the skank. I have tried to visualize these musical ideas in my portraits. I have used sharp (staccato) shapes in different lengths and weights. There is a limited palette of 8 warm colors—the Green, Yellow, and Green of the European flag. The Black, Green, and Red of the Pan-African flag, along with some brown and orange, express earthy colors. I wanted to use colors like different instruments. Every color plays its own part in a different layer. The composition of all color layers is based on a simple rectangular grid expressing the 4/4 rhythm of the music. Different angles of the color layers are used to create a richer result, following the basic lithographic logic of ink raster angles. There are obvious references to simple print techniques and poster schools like the one from Cuba. Someone could even discover a reference to the Orthodox Christian religious iconography. You could probably see influences from Byzantine icons. This is probably the link between the Caribbean culture and my Greek Orthodox background.

Here are the first 19 posters-portraits I created. I have tried to portray all the musicians who participated in the historic "One Love Peace Concert" of 1978. I still have to work on 4-5 more artists, but I decided to publish the work from my first 3 years studying the Reggae phenomenon. Hope you enjoy it!

One Love!