Bono can add artist for the Atlantic to his long list of notable accomplishments, as his sketch of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to feature on the cover of the June edition of the US magazine.
His collaboration with the Atlantic came about after a casual conversation the singer had with senior staff at the magazine in which he confessed to designing imaginary covers on his iPad purely for his own amusement.
The cover was both designed and illustrated by the singer and will signpost readers to a story from Ukraine featuring an interview with the Ukrainian president.
The expansive piece will also feature in-depth reportage from the frontline city of Kherson as well as other cities and military bases across the country.
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In the piece running online now under the headline The Counteroffensive, Atlantic writer Anne Applebaum and its editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg argue that “now is the moment for the United States and the western world to help Ukraine launch its counteroffensive, take back Crimea, and win the war”.
Bono’s cover illustration includes a quote from Zelensky’s interview in which he says the “choice is between freedom and fear”.
In an editor’s note for the June issue, also online today, Goldberg details how the collaboration with Bono came to pass.
“Not long ago, [Bono] told me that he sometimes redesigned and reimagined Atlantic covers on his iPad. I was, as you might imagine, curious about this hobby,” Goldberg said.
“I asked to see his sketches. They were very good. I suggested that he make an actual Atlantic cover. Zelensky, a man we both admire, was a natural subject for his first go.”
The Atlantic editor noted that, like Applebaum, “Bono is preoccupied with issues of freedom and dignity, and, working with Oliver Munday, our associate creative director, he made a stunning cover that captures the resolve of Ukraine’s wartime president.”
