Love is Love is a temporal sculpture created for Denver PrideFest in 2023. Produced by The Center on Colfax- LGBTQ Colorado & Sponsored by Credit Union of Colorado
Recycled food totes, fiberglass, vinyl & silk.
Statement from Lonnie on the work:
As with our country, celebrating Pride is in a very contrasted place.
When working toward a vision for the art at PrideFest each year, we ask ourselves where we think we are at, as a community. We try to look at the current atmosphere and design something that contributes, positively, to that conversation.
For instance – In 2015 the 23’ Wedding cake called for Equality in Marriage. In 2016 the art reacted to the Orlando Massacre that happened days before. 50 years of civil rights progress and set backs since the Stonewall Riots were illuminated in 2019.
In 2023, from one point of view, the protests of old have become a huge celebration, drawing hundreds of thousands of people of all walks and creeds. Family day, 5k, vendor booths to capacity, 3 stages, and much celebration. From a sobering point of view, we are still fighting for our lives and rights. Groups of radicals are trying to drag society back to a time before civil rights, before marriage equality, before a woman had the right to choose. Trans people are being attacked. Drag performers are being treated like lepers in some parts of our country.
So do we protest instead of celebrate? Do we build a monument to the ongoing battle or to the progress and the solutions? In this piece, we attempt to speak to both.
The theme for Denver 2023 Pride is Be Proud Out Loud.
The base of the sculpture is made of recycled food totes, creating what looks like a large concrete block. The block is covered in black and white protest signs touching on the many issues we have faced, are facing and/or facing again. Subjects include discrimination, rasicm, religious extremism, climate change, reproductive rights, human rights and last but not least, gun control.
The protest posters include:
Trans Rights are Human Rights
Black Lives Matter
My Body. My Choice.
No Human is Illegal
Nothing About Us Without Us
Planet Over Profits
Protect Kids Not Guns
Drag Is Not A Crime
No More Shame
Me Too
F#ck Fascism
Build a Longer Table, Not a Taller Wall
Say Gay
Make Love, Not War
Gun Control Now
Closets Are For Clothes
Science is Real
I can’t believe we are still debating this Sh#t.
Boldly emblazoned in racious color over that block is the phrase Love is Love repeatedly. The top of the block, viewable only from the sky, reads Love Wins.
Rising 28 feet from the large block are 56 vertical poles furling silk flags, arranged in a rainbow sequence. This creates a huge vertical flag. Our “flag” is 10 main colors, with some colors bleeding into others. Just like our community that is diverse and messy and beautiful.
Media & Links
PRIDE! Colorado’s LGTBQ+ past, present and future | Colorado Public Radio (cpr.org)
Denver Pride art installation celebrates progress and much more | 9news.com
Denver PrideFest 2023 kicks off at Civic Center Park (denver7.com)