GIVE US OUR FLOWERS
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GIVE US OUR FLOWERS ✿
In an effort to expand the narrative around Pride and push back on well-trod stereotypes, a collective of LGBTQ2I+ voices carved out our space to create Give Us Our Flowers: A Global Archive of Queer Rebels of Colour.
Give Us Our Flowers (GUOF) is a love letter to the resilience and strength of queer POC worldwide, who have defiantly thrived in the face of oppression.
Printed in collaboration with Secret Riso Club (SRC), each of our 26 spotlights features a custom illustration and biography. SRC is an anti-capitalist design studio that focuses on intersectional social justice, design, and community building.
100% of proceeds are given to The Stonewall Protests (NYC), The Triangle Project (South Africa), and The Black Trans Art & Joy Fund (the Netherlands & Belgium).
GOUF blossomed from a gathering of LGBTQ2I+ friends who wanted to create something meaningful and tactile. In an industry overly saturated with white straight cisgendered men, we aimed to showcase our abilities and perspectives regardless of job title, race, gender, sexuality or immigration status while giving back to our community.
Simon Nkoli
“My illustration of Simon Nkoli incorporates many symbols of his fight for equality. He stood against apartheid, and because of that was arrested and jailed. When he came out from jail he was received with joy and flowers – there’s an iconic portrait of him wearing a beautiful flower necklace and raising his fist from this time. Simon used to wear a vest full of buttons too, so for this piece I’ve made a graphic version of it that features his main causes. The necklace celebrates his freedom specifically through the use of the king protea, South Africa’s national flower.”
— Fabrizio Lenci
Pine Leaf Woman Chief
"She was a Chief of the Crows and a warrior who brought an extended period of peace between her people and neighboring tribes. She identified as Two-Spirit, but chose to wear feminine clothing — this detail made me think she really knew who she was and didn't give an eff what other people thought. More evidence for this is in the fact that she took four wives.
I'm inspired by the storytelling found in a lot of Native American paintings, as well as the decorative patterns used in day-to-day objects like woven baskets and clothing. I tried to marry those two ideas in this illustration while playing with my own favorite tools.
In the end I just wanted to depict Pine Leaf Woman Chief as a BAMF, larger than life, confidently leading her multiple wives on horseback through a pine forest. I wondered if making the pine trees yellow in my illustration did some injustice to her jab at her wannabe male suitor, but the color was too pretty to resist."
— Kyle Strope
Leslie Cheung
“Leslie was particularly iconic for his versatility both on stage and in cinema, and was considered ahead of his time, especially in Asia, which was (and is) very conservative. He once said, “The highest achievement for a performer is to embody both genders at the same time. For art itself is genderless,” so I wanted to portray him as an ethereal embodiment of his many iconic performances and looks, instead of sidelining him into just one. All those facets are refractions of his identity, one that goes beyond a singular understanding of gender.”
— Kuu Chen
We strove for biographies that would provide enough information to function as a primer, inviting audiences to continue learning on their own. Where possible we included our heroes’ writings or quotes in their mother tongue alongside English translations to ensure we populated the zine with their real voices. Beyond pure portraiture, our designs were inspired by and incorporate personal details that add an additional layer of storytelling.
“Give us our flowers while we are living” is an expression centering the importance to fully love and support Black Trans folk always, not just during times of tragedy, not just in death. Often heard at Black Trans led NYC protests that continue to this day, it’s a reminder that the push for LGBTQ2I+ liberation must continue. In this zine, we honour both our predecessors and our contemporaries.
We sold out of all 100 physical copies in a few days, but we launched the PDF version of the zine in both English and Spanish for free 𓇗
SANDBOX
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SANDBOX ⋆❀˚✿˖
This project was concepted, researched, written, designed, produced, and printed entirely by members of the LGBTQ2I+ community. The majority of illustrators were also a part of the community, with a few allies included. Thank you to the whole team, especially to Ayla, Zoe, Asia, Kevin, Kim and Dara. 𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊✿
CreditsProduction Dara Ó Cairbre, Kim Stephens, Kitty Dillard, Melbie Balam
Design Ayla Mortada, Vero Gómez, Zoé Schneider
Copywriting Asia Hunt, Liz Vogstberger, Kevin Pires
Printer Secret Riso Club
Illustration Amelia Giller, Angélica Fernandez, Ben Nichols, Dan Muangprasert, David Stumpf, Fabrizio Lenci, Irmak Semiz, John Bajana, Julia Mattos, Kenni Huang, Kirin Robinson, Kuu Chen, Kyle Strope, Lauren Gaballo, Laurie Rollit, Manu Correa Soto, Meeta Panesar, Mercy Lomelin, Nicole Pappas, Roche Cruchon, Sana Srinivasan, Shannon Rollins, Sung Hyun Kim
Translation Libier Gómez, Vero Gómez
Photography Emily Simms, Zoé Schneider
Special Thanks Ayanna India, Ben Langsfeld, Chante Edwards, David Evans, Heloise Chung, Justin Cone, LGBTQ2I+ @ BUCK, Lumi Chang, Meagan Alderson, Shannon Jager, Timothy Tickell, Tina Chao
RecognitionD&AD Awards - Shortlist