Joy Division's ‘Unknown Pleasures’ artwork has been turned into a climate mural
Peter Saville’s iconic artwork for Joy Division‘s ‘Unknown Pleasures’ has been turned into a climate mural to raise funds for Music Declares Emergency’s No Music On A Dead Planet.
The sleeve was originally based on an image of radio waves from pulsar CP 1919, but it now shows the waves as flat and lifeless to “symbolise the eternal silence of a dead planet”.
The work in Withington, in Manchester is part of a wider campaign calling for “urgent action on climate” ahead of the COP26 UN Climate Conference in Glasgow.
It is close to a mural of Saville himself and footballer Marcus Rashford.
It comes after MDE launched a t-shirt campaign earlier this year with the logo. It has been backed by the likes of Billie Eilish and Foals as well having shirts designed by Thom Yorke and others.
“The truth of the matter is that the world is terrible trouble now and if we don’t look to address the climate emergency facing the planet immediately then ourselves and all future generations face tremendous problems,” Joy Division bassist Peter Hook previously told NME. “If everyone can look to make changes, we could all have a huge impact.”
Two days ago, The 1975 also teamed up with MDE for a new charity t-shirt, which is based around their rectangle logo, bearing the ‘No Music On A Dead Planet’ slogan alongside the words: “The 1975 for MDE.”
It comes after the band helped fans recycle their old t-shirts by screenprinting new 1975 logos on them at a pop-up shop at Reading Festival in 2019.
Speaking to NME about the organisation’s goals in 2019, Music Declares Emergency founder and Savages’ drummer Fay Milton previously said: “There’s such a short period of time to make the changes we need to make, and to make people wake up and realise that there isn’t time for everyone to change everything they do.
“To use Greta Thunberg’s analogy, the house is on fire, and there isn’t time for whoever started the fire with their cigarette to quit smoking before saying the house is on fire – it’s on fire now, and we need to fix this. Let’s change our lifestyles, let’s fly less, let’s use less plastic – but ultimately what’s needed is a governmental response.”
She added: “People are getting used to the word ’emergency’, but we shouldn’t – it really, really is an emergency. Every single day that we’re not doing something, it’s putting the world in more danger.”
For more information on the Music Declares Emergency, visit here.
