Credit: Nick Romanenko

Emily Lash recognized her artistic ambitions at a young age. Her mother, a painter, frequently took her to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the medieval collection was one of her favorites. During her senior year in high school, Lash enrolled in several art classes, including drawing, photography, and computer animation. “I realized that through design I could incorporate almost all other art forms into my work."

Whips, handcuffs, and a chastity belt are provoking images, and that’s exactly what Emily Lash had in mind when she photographed these items for her award-winning book-cover series for the works of an old icon: the Marquis de Sade. Lash, an undergraduate at Rutgers–Camden, invoked the Marquis’ scandalous persona as the father of sadism – delight in cruelty – to entice modern readers to his writing.

Lash, who expects to graduate this spring with a dual major in graphic design and photography, has been garnering accolades for her edgy designs. She won the editorial category in the student award issue of Canada’s most prominent graphic design journal, Applied Arts, and a gold medal in the student category from the Art Directors’ Club of Philadelphia.

On each of the three covers of the award-winning series, a crisp, white background emphasizes a single sexualized object that is paired with a splash of vibrant red blood. “I wanted to design something that would appeal to modern aesthetics, something simple and direct, using a single image as an allegory for each story’s theme,” Lash said. She designed the book-cover series as part of an assignment for a communications design class taught by Allan Espiritu, an assistant professor of fine arts in Camden.

While her classmates turned to modern authors like Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) for book covers to redesign, Lash’s provocative style lent itself to a fresh reinterpretation of French literature’s infamous author. Known for his erotic writings during the late 1700s, such as The 120 Days of Sodom and Justine, the Marquis de Sade, although never convicted of any crime, was incarcerated for his sexual deviancy and ultimately declared insane. It was Geoffrey Rush’s depiction of him in the film Quills that led Lash to Marquis de Sade’s written works.

“Most people are only familiar with the scandal surrounding his life and works and do not recognize him for the brilliant and revolutionary thinker he was,” Lash said. “I created the covers partially as a means to help address and amend this issue. I also felt that the bold and forthright nature of his work would translate very well into design.”

Lash uses the space on the back covers of the Marquis series not to retell the lurid life of the writer, but to call attention to his words. For instance, the front cover image of a metal whip on Marquis’ Dialogue between a Priest and a Dying Man is countered on the back cover where the following quotation is enlarged: “…The mere names of horrible gods and hideous faiths have caused more blood to be shed than all other wars and scourges on earth.”

Lash recognized her artistic ambitions at a young age. Her mother, a self-taught painter, frequently took her to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the medieval collection was one of her favorites. During her senior year at Pennsauken High School, Lash enrolled in several art classes, including drawing, photography, and computer animation.

“I realized that through design I could incorporate almost all other art forms into my work. Design was an ideal vehicle for communicating a message to the masses,” Lash said. Just as the Marquis de Sade is judged for his sexual acts before his works are read, Lash hopes her work challenges others to think for themselves. “I want people to ask questions before they conform,” she said.

After graduation in May, Lash plans to seek employment at a local design house while establishing herself as a freelance artist. “Ideally, I’d like to work for a company that creates book covers, movie posters, and CD covers, or a magazine or some kind of socially motivated design.”

Espiritu, her teacher and mentor, doesn’t think it will take her long to find her niche in the design world. “Emily has an innate ability to create visually compelling work while imbedding her personal voice and interests,” he said. “These are two aspects of design that takes a certain amount of skill and subtlety to successfully achieve. Emily has that talent.”