| Best Drawing "Colorful Symbolism" By Michael Conway-Semensi, MN |
 |
|
|
| 2004 KarMel Scholarship Submission |
| KarMel Scholarship 2004 |
|
 |
|
| Description of Submission: "As I was thinking about a gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender theme, I thought it would be perfect to make a piece of artwork encompassing all the different symbols and flags that represent the pride of the G/B/L/T community. In the top left corner is the Gay Pride Flag based on the rainbow. Under that are the letters GBLT representing gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender people. The flag that looks like the Gay Pride Flag but has a black bar underneath it is victory over AIDS. The Asian lady depcits the lesbian in my artwork. Her face has a light and dark colors. The dark blue represents the prejudice and the way society doesn't accept people for who they are. The pink spot shows the pride she has for who she is. She is not ashamed to be gay. The pink ribbon represent breast cancer, which kills many women and mena each year. The double bladed Labrys was used by the female Amazon warriors in South America it means sisterhood. The two female symbols intertwined is the symbol for lesbians. I thought it was important for the gay definition found in the dictionary to be in the center of the artwork. I was surprised to what the definition was. The Lamba symbol means liberation and was first used by the GAA in New York City in 1970. The interlocking pink and blue traingle is known as "biangles" or besexualism. The black/white/purple striped flag with the red heart depicts leather pride. The black triangle and pink triangle were used in thr Nazi concetration camps to segregate lesbians (black) and gay men (pink). The blue/white/brown/green striped and yellow bear print is the flag of the Bear Pride. The white ribbon symbolizes teen suicide, a way some lost and confused gay teenagers used to "escape from the misery". The two orange symbos portray crossdressers, transvestites, transsexuals, and transgendered people. The gay man also has a light and dark spot on his facing illustraing prejudice and pride. A red tie was used the early 1920's for men to distinguish other gay men on the street. By researching and drawing, I had time to relfect onto what I was actually doing. Some of these symbos were sued to distinguish gay people in a way that would have been negative like the pink and black traingles. I was confused as to why gay people would then use the symbos in a postive way. Were they trying to reclaim what was theirs? I then realized that instead they were clebrating the incredible tragedy and continuing pressures, including the right for gay marrage, as how they have survived and risen above to celebrate their individuality." - Michael Why Karen and Melody Liked It: It was a very beautify drawing with slots of good infromation on the various gay pride symbols. It was great that you added some text to go alognw tiht he pictures to explain the gay symbols. We learenda lto about the various gay symbols. |
 |