top of page
Unicorn
EXTINCT
14x24''
$888
The Unicorn is a legendary creature that is known to possess magical abilities. Though in modern day this creature is thought to be nothing more than a myth, ancient cultures wrote of it as a real animal. In fact, it was even included in many natural history books of the time. The unicorn has been described as an animal resembling a horse or a goat with a single horn on its forehead. Early accounts describe the unicorn as ferocious, swift, and impossible to capture, with a magical horn capable of healing numerous ailments. Over time, the unicorn acquired additional significance as a symbol of purity, protection, and medieval chivalry. The unicorn appeared in early Mesopotamian artworks, and it also was referred to in the ancient myths of India and China. The earliest description in Greek literature of a single-horned animal was by the Greek physician and historian Ctesias around 400 BCE. He stated that the Indian wild ass was the size of a horse, with a white body, purple head, and blue eyes, and on its forehead was a cubit-long horn colored red at the pointed tip, black in the middle, and white at the base.
The horn itself and the substance it was made of was called alicorn, and it was believed that the horn held magical and medicinal properties and thought to cure many diseases. Its horn was said to have the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. Those who drank from its horn were thought to be protected from stomach trouble, epilepsy, and poison. Because of its supposed magical abilities, the unicorn and its horn was greatly sought after by anyone with means in the early ages. It was common for those of great wealth or nobility to attempt to procure a horn to protect themselves against attacks or to extend their lifespan in general. Cups were often made from alicorn for kings and given as a gift. In fact, many ‘horns’ were sold by traders who came from the north and south. While these were not definitively unicorn horns, they sold for many times their weight and gold and proved to be a very profitable industry. Alicorn powder, typically made from the tusks or horns of various animals, has been sold in Europe for medicinal purposes as late as 1741. Entire horns were very precious in the Middle Ages and were often really the tusks of narwhals.
In the last century, the unicorn has made its appearance in the LGBTQ+ community. Rainbows and unicorns are so intrinsically linked that it’s not surprising that the magic creature started to appear at Gay Pride parades around the world. The unicorn as a symbol of things that are fanciful, exotic, unique, and different seems to make it the perfect queer emblem. The legend of the unicorn combines male and female in one beast and therefore rich in the symbolism of opposites. It represents the balance of the yin and yang. The unicorn, typically portrayed as female, can be a sweet & innocent, but it also has a phallic horn protruding from its head and is known to be a vicious fighter when necessary. It’s a symbol of freedom to be male and female, cute and ferocious. In other words, it’s an iconic example of the possibility to be whoever you want to be, separate from any limiting binaries. Its gender fluidity seems emblematic of our times and relevant to the genderqueer and transgender community. LGBTQ+ people face resistance and discrimination to their identity everyday (many still tell bisexual people they don’t exist and gay people that they’re going through a phase), and the unicorn allows a way to play with those unreal stereotypes. The LGBTQ+ community draws not only on the unicorn’s connections to rainbows, but also on its historical associations with the powerful and the possible, the mystical and the magical, the fantastical and the fabulous. Unicorns might not be real, but the word unicorn is far from fiction in our culture. Through language, we’ve transformed the myth of the unicorn into a singular and colorful metaphor for all those treasured rarities that so often elude us.
bottom of page