Map for Pride Power '94
Date
Credits
Format
- Flyer 122
- Flyer/poster 47
- Map 60
- Print 243
Media
- paper 1341
Techniques
- printing 434
Dimensions
Locations Made
- United States 727
- New York 365
This graphic depicts a map for Pride Power '94, a 10 day festival of pride and spirit in New York City. This graphic utilizes an upside-down pink triangle, a symbol used by the Nazis in WWII to identify and label the tens of thousands of homosexuals imprisoned within concentration camps.
The triangle pictured maps the location of a pride festival happening in lower Manhattan, the location of the Stonewall Riots of June 1969. Stonewall marks a series of conflicts between LGBTQ+ citizens and the NYPD, climaxing at the riots in front of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Following the riots, Gay pride festivals were held annually each June, and eventually the festivals spread internationally.
This particular image is significant when considering Queer Design as it provides an example of when symbols of oppression were reclaimed as a positive-reflection of the community they originally intended to harm. In this particular design, we see a symbol of hatred transformed to map out an area that will host thousands of LGBTQ+ festival-goers –– the same symbol that was used to mark a homosexual's death sentence just six decades prior.
This contemporary example of cartography reminds us of the oppression and history of violence LGBTQ+ individuals have overcome throughout the 20th century. By utilizing oppressive imagery to map out an area where tensions were once at their peak, the designer reclaims this symbol of hatred to promote an event of love, community, and acceptance.
