The Handmaid’s Tale illustrated book by ©2011-12 Balbusso Twins
We made the artworks of The Handmaid's Tale novel in 2011.
We made the artworks of The Handmaid's Tale novel in 2011.
In 2011 we were commissioned by The Folio Society to illustrate the official novel for Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The book’s beautifully illustration has since received multiple awards. We were so moved and artistically inspired by the story, we went on to create a series of four posters, The Wall, The Mask, The Blood and The Face. Stylistically influenced by Italian Futurism and Russian Constructivism, the series is centred on the woman's body; the Handmaid’s are empty objects, with no soul. Like clones the women are emptied of their personality and identity. A minimalist colour palette was used to communicate the psychological state of suffering, slavery, emptiness, and obsession: red, black, white and silver. The eyes (which feature promptly in all four pieces) symbolise the Republic of Gilead, the dictatorship, which owns and controls the woman.
Copyright ©2011-2018 Anna and Elena Balbusso / Balbusso Twins. All Rights Reserved. All images ©Balbusso Twins are copyrighted. Any usage needs our explicit written permission. Violation of this right means an infringement of copyright law and is indictable.
These posters received numerous awards
They received the GOLD Gosee Award Illustration (Germany) and the Applied Arts Photography & Illustration Award of the Canadian Applied Arts Magazine. They were AOI WIA World Illustration Awards, UK . They were selected by the Illustrators 60 Competition of the society of illustrators NYC, USA. They featured with Merit in the 3x3 international Annual No. 15, USA.
They received the GOLD Gosee Award Illustration (Germany) and the Applied Arts Photography & Illustration Award of the Canadian Applied Arts Magazine. They were AOI WIA World Illustration Awards, UK . They were selected by the Illustrators 60 Competition of the society of illustrators NYC, USA. They featured with Merit in the 3x3 international Annual No. 15, USA.
This award-winning series of images was the first illustrated version of the Margaret Atwood novel for The Folio Society illustrated edition 2012. It is a constant source of inspiration for many artists. After The Handmaid's tale TV series 2017 the novel became very popular but our red handmaids were born 6 years earlier. In 2012 the prestigious Canadian Applied Arts Magazine rewarded our The Handmaid's Tale artworks with The Illustration Awards of Excellence and dedicated the cover to us! Our series received very important awards including the prestigious Gold Medal of the Society of illustrators of New York, The Award of Excellence from the Communication Arts, The Silver Award from 3x3 Magazine Thanks again!
Limited Editions Screen prints www.darkcitygallery.com
