The Unicorn Rests, Olivia Saber-Bell

Medium: Digital

“This digital art piece was inspired by the tapestry “The Unicorn Rests in a Garden” on view at the Met Cloisters. Created in the Advanced Photoshop class, the original prompt was to composite multiple images with a focus on lighting to tell a story. The physical tapestry is dark and moody, with the unicorn confined to a small paddock, and the directive to focus on light led to a different environment entirely for the now-free unicorn.

By adding and enhancing the dappled sunlight and shadows of the forest, the adjusted luminosity becomes a contrast to the dark background of the tapestry. The broken fence shows that the unicorn’s rest is voluntary; no longer confined, the forest now means possibility. The expansion of freedom for the unicorn and of the physical space of the surrounding forest is a direct response to the tapestry, with a nod to it in the border of the scene.”