South African artist Amber Skye Alcock creates surrealist paintings that often employ the aesthetic of Western myths and popular fantasy fiction as allegories to real-life social, political and environmental issues. Her 2024 painting Allegory of a Unicorn is no different. Allegory of a Unicorn depicts the head of a single white horse solemnly lowering its neck with a broadsword impaled through its chin. The tip of the sword exits from the horse’s forehead and blood trickles from its wound.
Yet, the painting’s pink background and the horse’s expressions give the scene a sense of serenity. Seemingly enveloped in a moment of vulnerability, the horse is resigned to its fate with no hope of anyone putting it out of its misery. Despite this, as the piece’s title alludes, the horse has become a unicorn–a mythical creature of beauty and grace. In a video posted on Instagram, Alcock shared that, for her, Allegory of a Unicorn is about the experience of being a woman.
The piece can be read as a symbol of how women are treated in a patriarchal society. The unicorn made from a painful external force is a visualization of the violence that women go through under the male gaze. They have become a thing of beauty and grace, yet, this beauty exists to appease others. It is often obtained through painful and extreme means such as dieting and cosmetic surgery. Therefore, like the unicorn, the ideal image of a woman in the eyes of society has become more myth than reality. It is mirage crafted for the whims and needs of cis straight men, rather than for the very real breathing and living women. This is why the piece Allegory of a Unicorn by Amber Skye Alcock is relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality.
Amber Skye Alcock’s Allegory of a Unicorn is a striking commentary on the painful expectations placed upon women in a patriarchal society. By transforming the wounded horse into a unicorn—a mythical symbol of beauty and grace—Alcock critiques the way women are often forced to conform to unrealistic ideals, even at the cost of their own well-being. The painting’s haunting serenity underscores the quiet suffering that accompanies these societal pressures, revealing how the pursuit of perfection is often imposed rather than chosen. Through this powerful visual metaphor, Allegory of a Unicorn urges viewers to reflect on the double standards that continue to shape women’s experiences.
Find out more about Allegory of a Unicorn by Amber Skye Alcock and her other pieces on her website www.amberskyealcock.com or Instagram @amberskyealcock.