They say don’t judge a book by its cover. This Chennai exhibition begs to differ

In an era of non-stop digital distractions, a book cover does far more than market a story. A great cover acts as a visual threshold, an invitation where seeing transforms into reading. Book designer and illustrator Sunandini Banerjee’s exhibition Art of the Book brings together 100 covers created for Kolkata’s renowned Seagull Books. The display explores how textures, typography, and digital collages establish a space.

Why book covers matter in the age of thumbnails and social media

For Sunandini, bringing a hundred book covers to a gallery floor is an exercise in delightful understatement. “If someone is coming to see book-cover designs, then they won’t be disappointed, hopefully,” she smiles, deflecting any grand pretensions about her retrospective. Choosing from her vast oeuvre was no easy feat, but she approached the selection with characteristic pragmatism. “I chose some of the covers that have remained favourites over the years — those that have not aged or become dated to my own sensibility,” she explains. “I also wanted to show the diversity of visual treatments I attempt, and represent the amazing authors Seagull Books works with,” she avers.

The exhibition explores the book cover as a ‘threshold’ between seeing and reading. “It means that a book cover can be seen as a visual, but also read in the same way we read text— that is, interpreted,” she observes. “It is not merely to be admired, but also to be puzzled over, deconstructed, understood, or not,” she tells us.

When designing for stories set in unfamiliar geographies, Sunandini resists lazy tropes. “I try to read every book, or most of it, to pull out elements from the story, to make sure I correctly represent its time, characters, mood, and atmosphere,” she notes.

She views her medium as a battleground for attention. “We are bombarded with visuals, whether on OTT platforms or social media,” she points out. “So a book cover, represented as a thumbnail, has to be really striking to capture someone’s attention. Book covers are competing with every other visual out there, from ads to news. The pressure is like never before,” she admits.

She hopes the exhibition sparks curiosity. “I hope people pay a little more attention to book covers and pick up strange subjects and authors and dwell on them for a moment, prompted just by the design. Who knows what wonderful new titles they may discover?” she muses.

Entry free. On till September 6, 10 am onwards. At Varija Art Gallery, DakshinaChitra Museum, ECR.

Email: anoushkakundu@newindianexpress.com

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.