Victory or Death

The life of Che Guevara illustrated

Ernesto Che Guevara: the revolutionary, the guerilla, the communist. We imagine him gun in hand crouching in a jungle; or lounging with a thick cigar behind his desk; or perhaps nowadays we see him printed on some meaningless merchandise, a T-shirt or a tote bag.

He was, however, also an intellectual and avid reader - his backpack always full with literature and poetry. Whoever came to visit him, he told: bring me books.

In Winnen of Sterven historian Marco Baars intertwines the story of Che’s life with the poetry he loved. I illustrated the journey of the guerilla fighter, from his youth in Argentina to the final day in a rural school building in Bolivia. The images end up residing somewhere between the historical writing and the poetry - with the sum of it all giving a new dimension to the revolutionary we know.