About the Cover Art – Toxic
Front Cover: Delirium visum by Alexander Chernavskiy
Cover design by Anthony Michael Morena
Artist’s Statement: There are many ways to dissolve the perception of man and his view of reality. But there are not many ways to transfer this state to someone else, to share the impressions experienced in these bizarre states. This series – photos of mobile phone with Glitch effects – is the author’s attempt to carry out such a conversion and to transfer a specific visual experience of a person who is in a modified state of consciousness. The world can be a very bizarre place, slightly similar to itself if you start traveling without the usual coordinates and multiply your own perception of the amazing. What is reality? Perhaps nothing more than what we see before us. And today, anyone can even change his or her own memory diary in the most faddish way possible, all he or she has to do is to start ” delirium ” in reality.
Born in 1981 in Moscow, Russia, Alexander Chernavskiy is a Russian artist, his career emerged in the wake of the influence of documentary traditions and contemporary art as the fields of his main interest. He is a media artist, who works with photography, video, text, and sound art, he creates self-published photobooks and zines since 2015. He was a participant of festivals and exhibitions in Russia, Georgia, Belarus, Latvia, Ukraine, USA, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Belgium, Slovenia, UK, Lithuania, Turkey, Malta.
Back Cover: Worker Hands by Katherine Leung
Artist’s Statement: With colors inspired by the fruits and vegetables cultivated for human consumption, “Worker Hands” is a celebration of the dauntless spirit of immigrant strength during Covid-19. By focusing on their hands, the artist attempts to rehumanize the individuals in a polarizing political landscape created by the necessity to perform certain work during the worldwide quarantine. So-called essential jobs such as supermarkets, food handling, and farm work are not compensated as if the worker livelihood is truly essential. This era is characterized by xenophobia by governments with little regard for actual human lives.
Katherine Leung is a multilingual Asian American artist, community organizer, and public school teacher living in San Jose, California, USA. As an educator, her work brings arts programming to underserved youth. Her paintings are studies on the human body, informed by sociopolitical narratives. Her portfolio can be found at leungart.com. She curates Dead Dads Club zine at deaddads.club and Canto Cutie zine at cantocutie.com.