Che Jesus

The 1999 Che Jesus poster

Che Jesus is an image depicting Jesus Christ in the style of Jim Fitzpatrick's iconic two-tone portrait of Che Guevara (itself based upon Alberto Korda's iconic Guerrillero Heroico photo). The image was created by Chas Bayfield and Trevor Webb for the Churches Advertising Network in the UK who used it to encourage church attendance for Easter 1999. The poster used the slogan: 'Meek. Mild. As If. Discover the real Jesus. Church. April 4.' It appeared in the 2000 exhibition, Seeing Salvation in London's National Gallery, featured in the Faith Zone in the Millennium Dome and appeared in the 2006 Che Guevara: Revolutionary and Icon exhibition at the V&A Museum.

The artwork for the poster was created by photocopying a Victorian painting of Christ onto acetate and laying this over a copy of Korda's photo. By tracing over the two faces, a composite face was created. This was then traced again and inked in to create a black and white copy. This was scanned in to an Apple Mac, the background changed to red and the type added by Matt McMullen.