How queer activism has been inscribed into artworks, and how artworks therefore serve
as important means of recording queer histories.
Codified defiance before liberation
Creativity of the Gay Liberation Movement
Queer activism during the HIV/AIDS
epidemic
Le Monocle, the Bar, Paris – serve as visual
records of important role of gathering
spaces, visual codes and symbols in queer
activism prior to liberation.
A form of gender expression adopted by
many of the bar’s patrons was the female
masculinity of the garçonne (women
wearing a combination of traditionally
masculine clothing” and femmes (women
dressed in highly feminine dress and
evening gowns)
‘Gay Is Good’ and ‘Lavender Menace’, or an
image of the Greek lambda symbol (λ),
became an important part of the language
of LGBTIQA+ rights activism. Wearing
designs associated with the movement was
a form of protest.
Baker designed the rainbow flag, two
versions of which were first flown in San
Francisco’s United Nations Plaza during the
Gay Freedom Day Parade on 25 June 1978.
ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power),
To combat the rampant spread of
misinformation and discrimination towards
queer people (particularly gay men) amid
the epidemic
Artwork ‘Untitled (ACT UP)’, a 1990
screenprint presented across two sheets.
One half of the diptych is populated by data
referencing the trading codes of US
pharmaceutical companies that profited
from the death of hundreds of thousands of
people in America amid the HIV/AIDS
epidemic. The diptych’s other half features
text which references homophobic
comments made by politicians and other
prominent public figures during the crisis.