2 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 2 album covers documented under the "portrait photography" design theme, all from the 1990s. These covers sit within the electronic, alternative, hip-hop tradition and feature work by Björk, Jay-Z. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.
Björk's face emerges from a sculptural ruff collar like a futuristic Elizabethan portrait, created through painstaking digital manipulation that took months to perfect. The image merged high fashion with alien beauty, establishing a new template for electronic music artwork.
Jonathan Mannion's stark black-and-white portrait of a young Jay-Z became hip-hop's most iconic debut cover, shot in a single session that would define rap album photography for decades to come.