The woman from Converge’s ‘Jane Doe’ artwork reveals herself, J Bannon confirms
Converge's classic Jane Doe, which recently turned 20, is just as iconic for its album artwork as it is for the music itself, though the woman depicted on the cover had previously been unknown. No longer true! Model Audrey Marnay — who confirms she never knew before now — has come forward with her new discovery that she is Jane Doe. J. Bannon's artwork was based on a photo of her by photographer Jan Welters that was used in the May 2001 issue of Italian Marie Claire. She posted the pictures side by side on Instagram, and now Bannon has confirmed this in a new Facebook post:
Just to be clear: This is definitely one of the sources for the original stencil/mixed media piece for the "Jane Doe" album. Most of my work always been collaged cut/paste based (and still is). Hundreds of images were xeroxed and repainted/inked in a loose style to create the release artwork. This process is similar to everyone from Shepard Fairey to Francis Bacon. Over time my work has evolved into something more much more refined, but the roots will always be in this style. I wonder if folks will still insist that it is actually from the cover of Slayer's "Reign In Blood"?
The original goal was to create ghost-like forms that embodied the concept of "Jane Doe". In recreation identifiers are removed from physical forms, making all humans become relatable and stoic. We see what we want to see in them, and often times, it's a reflection back onto our own life experiences, etc.
Thank you.
-J.
In a 2013 interview with Revolver, Bannon discussed the collage-based artwork, and said that he didn't keep the original source material. "I still rarely keep originals of anything," he said. "Not sure why, really—an emotional hangup, I guess. These days I'm trying to be better about keeping things."
Here are Audrey's and Converge's posts: