For those of you that didn’t get to see issue 10.2 at our release party last semester, we plan on slowly releasing some of the spreads from Take Root here on our website and instagram over the coming weeks! To get that started, we wanted to spotlight the cover art done for issues 10.1 and 10.2 by our incredible team member Rose Degefa! Underground wouldn’t be the beautiful journal you all know and love without the contributions of our incredible volunteer team who pour their hearts into each issue 💞 Here’s what Rose has to say about her cover art and her time with Underground the past year:

I think of myself as an amateur artist, especially with the digital medium, but getting my work on the cover of both journals gave me a sense of artistic validity. The In Transit cover was just a photo I took on the Marta train that somehow transformed into a work of art after some experimentation on 3D Paint. Making the In Root cover was far more intentional. I wanted to give In Transit a pair while also accurately depicting the theme of home and beginnings.

Looking at the covers now, I feel honored to have my work as an introduction to the magic within the pages of these journals. I still connect with both covers as they both encapsulate feelings I continue to experience today. When I joined the Underground Journal, I was transitioning into college life in an unfamiliar city, but I found a place to feel safe and at home. The amount of gratitude I have toward the underground team is overwhelming because it is with their hospitality that I found comfort and confidence in my art.