Jack Arts

I Who Have Never Known Men: Jacqueline Harpman

Emerging from the depths of the ground, disrupting the paving slabs as it rises, an intriguing billboard brings #Booktok’s latest viral revival to life; a 1995 dystopian fantasy set beneath the streets. 

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, explores sisterhood, secrets and survival. ‘Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits.’ The surreal novel follows the women’s escape and survival in a strange and deserted world.

Together with Penguin, we crafted a creative campaign that bridges the gap between online viral moments and offline interaction in our shared spaces – our street-level 48 sheet at Old Street emerges from beneath the surface, surrounded by fragments of broken pavement slabs that were disrupted during its ascent from the world below. The novel’s cover is replicated with cutout silhouette overlayed with a copper foiled moon adding to the campaigns intrigue.  From sketch to real-life the creative idea embodied the novel’s key themes, incorporated its powerful tagline ‘Underground, one girl’s courage lights the way’ and transformed the original cover design with contemporary audiences in mind.