Reimagined book cover of Sea of Poppies

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Sea of Poppies is the first volume of the Ibis Trilogy written by acclaimed Indian writer Amitav Ghosh. The novel discusses the oppression faced by the Indian people in the 19th and 20th centuries due to British colonialism and imperialism. It explores the devastating consequences of the Opium Trade and the British East India Company’s forceful cultivation of opium in the Indian Province of Bengal. In this novel, the poppy flower, from whose seeds opium is derived, serves as a metaphor for the oppressed Indian masses.

 

The illustration and typography are both done traditionally by hand with gouache on bristol paper. 

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(Note: This is NOT the published cover)