Illustrating Quotes

This piece came about after I encountered the title, 'Tomorrow has been cancelled due to lack of interest', in Last of England, directed by Derek Jarman (1988). The line itself is a reference to a 1969 book by Irene Kampen, called 'Due to Lack of Interest, Tomorrow has been Canceled'. Last of England is also the title of a painting by Ford Madox Brown (1855), which depicts a family of emigrants leaving for a new life in America.

I felt that there was a definite link between the quote, the title of the film, and the title of the painting. Madox Brown began the painting in 1852 after a close friend emigrated to Australia, while he himself spoke of moving to India. The family in the painting are leaving England, and the couple are based upon Madox Brown and his own wife. The white cliffs of Dover, usually seen as a welcome sight for those returning to England, are ignored in the background as the family leave, their eyes fixed on what they hope is a better tomorrow elsewhere. The theme is that of hope, but set within a harsh reality - by the time Jarman made his film, many people in a similar position had lost hope, which brings the line of thinking back to the quote in question.

I decided to choose a grunge aesthetic to link the piece with a 'typical' post-apocalyptic aesthetic that can be seen in films such as The Road, and I chose tower blocks due to their connotations with failed experiments in social engineering. The estates, built in the 1960s, were believed to answer housing shortages in the postwar years, but their architecture failed to solve the problems and instead created pockets of crime and vandalism, especially in inner city areas. I added an 'apocalyptic' sky, and a rusted colour palette to tie the piece together. I chose a strong, stencil font to underline the links with graffiti.