Synkroniciti is delighted to reveal the cover for our upcoming “Expectations” issue, Learning to Fly by Abby Buchold of Houston, Texas. We had a number of striking and intriguing images which will be worked into this issue or future issues, but Abby’s painting of youthful imagination and possibility stole our hearts and fits the ethos of the issue beautifully. This is a self-portrait at five years old with a wonderful subtext. She has not paired herself with a cute or fluffy animal, but a giant crow—a bird of intelligence possessing an uncanny undertone of secret knowledge and wisdom. The sky is open for them, with twinkling stars and bright pink clouds. Pink is a traditional color for girls but seldom has the connotations of intrepid femininity we see here. The crow has been associated with female power in the Celtic tradition and demonized as a familiar for witches in many European countries. The patriarchy is perpetually afraid of women with agency—they forget that women are human, too. Despite all this serious connotation, the image remains playful and childlike, which is absolute genius.
Learning to Fly shares some imagery with Mariaceleste Arena’s The Donkey-child and the elephant, our “Audacity” cover, which is also a self-portrait of the artist as a girl paired with an animal in a surreal landscape, but the coloration and style are quite different, as are the archetypal animals. I love the contrast and connection between these wonderful artworks. Each Synkroniciti issue is part of a conversation about what it means to be human.
The issue will be available for pre-order soon at Purchase Individual Issues – synkroniciti and we will have more about Abby and her artwork in her Artist Feature in June.