About the cover

The cover was designed by Nicole Carter. The art which is at the center of the cover is by Veronica Eldredge. The image is called “Besando” and this is Veronica’s artist statement.

“Besando” (2016): 

This is a digital illustration I created based on a photograph that was circulating on social media in the summer/fall of 2016. The original photo is by Alejandra Sánchez, for a street/public art project called “Beso de Chola” in La Paz, Bolivia, with the artists Adriana Bravo and Ivanna Terrazas portraying the kiss. I loved the image and what it represented for indigenous women in expanding the visibility of  lesbians, queers, and two-spirit people.  More info about their project, found here: besodechola.wordpress.com/.

Adriana Bravo/Besando de Chola artist statement: “Dos mujeres vestidas de pollera besándose, tratando de encarnarse y mimetizarse, ambas experimentando un proceso performático/transgresor; siendo este el material en bruto que asienta una imagen, la inoculación de un ósculo que hackea, y se viraliza en la configuración binaria de la sexualidad. La construcción de identidad es una situación líquida, cambiante, que depende de las decisiones que construyen el aliento de nuestro presente.”

English translation by Veronica Eldredge: “Two women dressed as Bolivian cholas kissing, trying to embody/personify and mimic each other, both experimenting with transgression and performance; this being the raw material that establishes an image, the inoculation of an osculum that hacks and makes viral the binary configuration of sexuality. Identity construction is a fluid, changing situation, which depends on the decisions that build the breath of our present.”

Veronica Eldredge, she/her/hers
Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies minor
Seattle University, class of 2016
@vmearte on instagram