Daisy Aldridge IVM (Fig 1, Aldridge, 2020.) This terms octopus represents me in full panic mode, trying to get everything done at once and sipping on a nice tea at the same time. My plans have changed a lot in this crisis, I had planned to spend these last month’s exploring internships but find myself in a pandemic with 2 highly vulnerable people which effects all of our day to day lives (we have started washing the post). I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands, I have had to close my Etsy store during this time, which means a pause in cash flow but has meant I can focus on reworking products/packaging and looking into how I can be as sustainable as possible, I have begun looking into recyclable and eco-friendly products. A very big interest at the moment is fabrics made of bamboo. Pre pandemic I would find myself going to the nearest fabric store for a cheap metre of something made really badly and of 100% polyester, and now I have been able to save the money I would normally spend on travel or coffees and invest it into more eco-friendly and socially responsible fabrics, 100% organic is the aim now. One of my favourite things to come out of this pandemic is the memes and the street graffiti, my father lives in central London and he bikes around for hours every day taking portraits of the people in lockdown, photos of graffiti and street art, which he documents on his Instagram. (Fig 2 - Aldridge, S, 2020) I made him some business cards to be able to give out, for this project I looked at what makes a person’s card memorable and thought a depiction of the person themselves would make them pretty impossible to forget. (Fig 3 , Aldridge D, 2020) (Fig 4 , Baker, G, 1978.) Something a bit more controversial that I have been learning about is the current use of the LGBTQ pride flag. American artist Gilbert Baker was a gay rights activist and creator of the rainbow flag, a symbol used to represent LGBTQ pride. The pride flag is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer pride and social movements. Baker, who died in 2017 at 65, chose not to trademark the flag, which became key to its circulation to the LGBTQ communities around the world. (Fig 5, Baker, G, 1978) Its first debut was in 1978, it originally had eight colours each with a different meaning, but due to demand and unavailability of fabrics, two colours were removed. This is how we got the six colour flag that we all know today. (Fig 6, 1933) The LGBTQ flag was designed as a substitute for the ’pink triangles’, which represented a dark period in the history of same-sex rights. Originally created by the Nazis during the second world war, the pink triangles were used to identify and condemn homosexuals, these functioned as a Nazi tool of oppression. Although in the recent pandemic, the pride flag has taken on a new meaning. Early on in the lockdown people started hanging drawings and pictures of rainbows and in their windows, specifically pride flags. Which was quickly taken on by businesses, using the LGBTQ symbol to show support for the NHS, and to show that we are together and united in the crisis. There has also been a new avenue for revenue for sellers on eBay, LGBTQ flags are being resold as thank you NHS flags. Fig 7, Milton, J, 2020)
The problem here is that there are now two very different causes using the same symbol, Can it be seen as erasure that a flag that represents years of LGBTQ struggles has been re appropriated for the NHS? Should we be worried that it could be erased of its meaning? Or should it be accepted that the pride flag is being used temporarily for the NHS to represent hope in such a difficult time? The LGBTQ flag has six distinct colours, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet- a specific correlation of colours, designed by Gilbert Baker, and a normal rainbow has seven. "There could be so many replacements for what people could use as the NHS symbol. Maybe a blue flag with the letters NHS on it, a full 7 coloured rainbow flag, a white flag with an actual image of a rainbow on it, a flag with the NHS colours (blue and white).’’ (Fig 8, Wareham, J, 2020) Of course no one owns the rainbow, but why is the 6 coloured flag invented for the LGBTQ community being used? Why not the normal 7 coloured rainbow? It is being used for a great cause but this act is leaving some in the LGBTQ community feeling anxious about whether they are losing their symbol. To the LGBTQ community, the flag represents a battle for basic human rights. Daisy Aldridge BA (Hons) Illustration and Visual Media @illustrateddaisy Fig 1 – Aldridge, D, 2020. Octopus number 3 [image]. Fig 2 – Aldridge, S, 2020. Photographs [images] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/r3cycl3r/. [Accessed 13th of May 2020.] Fig 3 - Aldridge, D, 2020. Business Cards [image] Fig 4- Baker, G, 1978. Pride Flag [image] Available at: https://gilbertbaker.com/rainblow-flag-color-meanings/ [Accessed 10th of May 2020] Fig 5- Baker, G, 1978. Pride Flag [image] Available at: https://gilbertbaker.com/rainblow-flag-color-meanings/ [Accessed 10th of May 2020] Fig 6, 1933, The Pink Triangle [image] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_triangle [Accessed 11th of May 2020] Fig 7, Milton, J, 2020. NHS Flag. [image] Available at: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/05/06/nhs-rainbow-flags-ebay-thank-you-lgbt-rainbow/ [accessed 12th of May 2020] Fig 8, Wareham, J, 2020. [Quote] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiewareham/2020/05/27/petition-calls-to-change-symbol-for-nhs-from-lgbt-pride-flag/#17bc32d23db5 [accessed 12th of May 2020]
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