Cover Analysis

 On April 10th, 2010, "After Escher: Gulf Sky and Water" by Bob Staake (pictured below) was released as the cover for The New Yorker. Some of the most notable features are a single pelican in the air at the top. It’s brown and discolored and has oil dripping down from it. Below it are many different birds. The 2 closest ones below it look like seagulls and they’re also discolored. There’s multiple other types of birds below that are all discolored and brown. The animals soon morph into fish that seem to be in a brown, murky water. All the fish seem to have upset and unpleasant expressions on their faces. They’re also discolored and brown. There’s also a brown turtle below the fish that’s brown and discolored swimming in the murky water. The water is also darker as it gets deeper.

A few months before the release of the magazine, a severe oil spill began called the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Millions of barrels of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico.  It shows how the animals in this area were and still are affected by the mass amounts of oil destroying their environments and homes. It shows how especially birds and fish are affected, both of which swim and/or live in the area which the oil spilled, poisoning them, leading to discoloration, disease, loss of food source, and more. This cover was most likely made to bring awareness to the devastation that was occurring in that area and continued to occur over months.