SPEAK Magazine Spreads
Drawing from the imagery and symbolism of the body and massage in Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium is the Massage, Cash Hartley uses modern tattoo culture to reinforce McLuhan’s emphasis on the change our personal lives are subject to today. McLuhan's essay is also subjected to the unique style of Speak Magazine’s relationship between text, image, and spread layout to offer a visual interpretation. Hartley’s cover and three spreads use tattoo imagery to visualize the permanent change our surroundings have experienced through the permanent act of marking one's body with ink under skin. McLuhan also emphasizes the great impact the information war has on the youth of today which leads them to look for other ways to express their voice and thoughts through acts like receiving tattoos. Hartley takes these ideas and presents them as images of McLuhan’s essay transferred onto the physical body and anthropomorphic collage of modern tattoos to visualize the effect modern society has on the youth of today.