NINE INCH NAILS - THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL GRAPHIC DESIGN - IDEAS DEVELOPMENTTRACK 12: REPTILEEDIT: I&rsq

NINE INCH NAILS - THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL

GRAPHIC DESIGN - IDEAS DEVELOPMENT

TRACK 12: REPTILE

EDIT: I’m after being informed by Andrea (https://k00234566.tumblr.com/) that the worm I found is actually a New Zealand Flatworm, a particularly invasive species not common to our part of the world that should be reported when found. Thanks Andrea! I knew it was up to no good…)

As our protagonist’s plea for someone to end his suffering go unanswered, he naively attempts to salvage some shred of his former self, or perhaps even find a way out of what he already knows deep down is inevitable, his destruction. 

We can assume from the opening lines that the woman this man encounters is not the same as was hinted in ‘Piggy’ or ‘Closer’, but more than likely a prostitute:

“she spreads herself wide open to let the insects in
she leaves a trail of honey to show me where she’s been
she has the blood of reptile just underneath her skin
seeds from a thousand others drip down from within…
oh my precious whore”

The images of ‘honey’ and ‘insects’ always stood out to me in this song. I decided to get a little on the nose with it and take a jar of honey out to the field across from my home. I dripped the honey on to different surfaces to see what kind of effects I can get. I was happy with the way the colours and textures of the rusted gate and aluminium pan complimented the honey, but I wanted to get some insects involved if I could. 

I turned over as many rocks and pieces of garbage as I could, and succeeded in finding many different ant colonies around the place. However the pictures of them I took on my phone were underwhelming as they were too small to make any sort of impact with the camera i was working with. 

Then I lifted a rock and found one of the weirdest things I have seen in recent memory. What appeared to be some sort of worm that looked like an eel started slithering out from under the rock. Perhaps I just don’t get out enough but I have never seen a worm that shape and with the strange off-white border around it. 

I decided to take some pictures and while the worm made it’s way, a nearby slug suddenly shared my curiosity and started following the worm. I caught a few pictures of their encounter and then let them on their way. 

I adjusted the contrast on the photos and found it difficult to decide which one to use for a cover. I looked forward to bringing them into photoshop to add the NIN logo and get a better sense of which one was most appropriate.