James Joyce’s political billboards for Glastonbury’s Shangri-La Truth stage

Glastonbury officially begins today and in the Shangri-La area, famously the most anarchic district of the festival, the hub for all performances is the Truth Stage. Last night it hosted Napalm Death, and surrounding the stage were 100 billboard posters by 42 artists including Ben Eine and Mark Titchner, each taking on a different political message in typically brazen style.

Among them is a series by graphic artist James Joyce, which he says are “a comment on the current political and environmental climate in the world right now”. As the name of the stage also suggests, many of James’ posters allude to the “post-truth” narrative prevalent in world news.

One visually alludes to the stars and stripes of the US flag, only the stripes are red lines crossing out the word “truth”. Dollar Kiss, meanwhile, shows intertwined dollar signs creating a heart in the negative space. Containers comments on environmental issues, appearing to reference Patrick Caulfield’s Pottery only using bleach and other cleaning products instead. Another more candid poster shows a black teardrop simply captioned “We’re doomed”.