October 2003
Photography by Eamon Mac Mahon
Jason Logan: We tried hundreds of options for that first issue cover. My initial favourite was a photo of a New Yorker magazine crumpled into a ball and lying on a sidewalk, with the word “Walrus” overtop. We thought it would, at the very least, get reactions. Instead, there was a major essay about Paul Martin’s ties to the shipping industry, but we struggled with how to turn that into an evocative cover. We commissioned Eamon Mac Mahon, whose portfolio featured aerial photography and who had a friend who owned a bush plane. Mac Mahon took on the assignment like a secret mission. While hanging out of the passenger side of the plane, he photographed some of the ships that Martin owned or operated or was dubiously involved with. We ended up using a shot of a vessel in the waters somewhere around Hamilton. A Great Lake ship full of iron ore bound for the Atlantic sat diagonally across the cover of the first issue of The Walrus like a no-smoking sign. A beautiful negation.
July/August 2004
Illustration by Richard Hahn
July/August 2010
Illustration by Seth
July/August 2014
Illustration by Roxanna Bikadoroff
July/August 2020
Illustration by Jillian Tamaki
