Once On This Island Poster

OTI Poster by Gracia Ruthie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Two years ago, my high school performed our own production of the Broadway musical 'Once on This Island' at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta. The show was a great success, and I made many unforgettable memories with my friends during both the preparations and the performance night.

'Once on This Island' is a story about a peasant girl who fell in love with a rich boy, a story about how love can conquer many hardships, even death. It is an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid' set in Haiti. While I personally thought that the storyline was a bit cliché, I enjoyed the songs and dance very much. This was why I decided to design my own version of the musical’s poster for my school's art project.

My poster was originally inspired by Haitian art, but I give it a cut-out paper look to make it more cheerful and childish (our show was targeted at kids). The tree in the center is my own design of the Haitian ‘Tree of Life’, a popular local metallurgy product. I chose the tree as it symbolizes life, strength, and growth. The branches of the tree also formed a heart silhouette, as love is the main theme of the show. Sitting underneath the tree are the two main characters, the peasant girl Ti Moune and the rich boy Daniel.

I made this poster over a year ago, so now I can see the many mistakes that I made. Still, I remember having a lot of fun creating this; discovering interesting myths, beliefs, and arts of another culture. I truly enjoyed every minute of the process.