Time to be Proud by The Colourist Helen Trevisiol Duff

Have you ever wondered why the rainbow flag has become synonymous with Pride celebrations?

Well it all started in 1978 when Harvey Milk who as a civil and human rights leader in San Francisco became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the USA winning a seat on the S F Board of Supervisors. He wanted to create a symbol of PRIDE for the gay community and asked the artist Gilbert Baker to design the first rainbow flag.

Baker adopted eight striped colours in his original design, each representing a meaning (hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic/art, indigo for harmony and violet for spirit). Colour is foremost in the PRIDE rainbow motif and over the years has expanded to include other colours, blue and white for trans and gender non conforming community and black and brown colours to include black and brown lives.

We all now recognise this symbol throughout the world as representing a wider LGBT+community and in 2021 will be celebrating in only some cities in the UK with a parade this month as a result of covid regulations.

Pride London runs the UK’s biggest, most diverse pride, and their job is to make sure they provide a platform for every part of London’s LGBT+ communities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer, questioning, intersex, non-binary, asexual, polysexual, genderqueer and gender variant people) to raise awareness of LGBT+ issues and campaign for the freedoms that will allow them to live their lives on a genuinely equal footing.

PRIDE calls for core values of visibility, unity and equality..
This year especially the need to celebrate, acknowledge it and be proud is so important.

PRIDE throughout the world is a time for celebration with its iconic parade which started in London in 2004 providing a platform for every part of the community to be proud and unite. Celebrate with us at Skylark Galleries in these unique artworks reflecting the rich diversity of our artists and the authenticity of expression.

Celebrating in socially distanced ways this year again has resulted in a coalition of equality organisations having banded together in The States to create “The colors of Pride '' as a way of focusing on the intersectional equality of racial injustice, queerness and religious identity. The goal is to create opportunities for allyship to participate in pro equality, engaging religious communities nationwide . The focus is beyond the parades and festivals taking PRIDE outside the box for intersectional equality.

Within Skylark Galleries we celebrate PRIDE through our diverse artwork. Many of our artists use rainbow colours, motifs and celebrate vibrancy and equality in unique pieces. Here are a few to brighten up our day.

Love Guides Us by Sara Sherwood £540 a hand embellished canvas print 51 x 102 cm 

Chakras by Gill Hickman £700 mixed media embossed original w 24k gold leaf 

Men in Dark Glasses by Heather Tobias £30 ceramic tile with decal image 15 x 15 cm

The Tree of Life by Wilf Frost £395 oil and acrylic on vintage draftsman board

 Green Flags, pink oil painting by Jo Hodgen SOLD 

Freedom by Richard Dickson £385 porcelain on black velvet, in frame 48 cm square