PRIDE & PROTEST:A CLOSER LOOK

Pride & Protest • 9’ x 15’ •  Acrylic Triptych on Canvas Panels 

by Patric Stillman, A San Diego Artist

Pride & Protest is one of my works rooted in civic engagement.  With this oversized triptych, I intended to create a connection for the viewer with between the past and present. 

The imagery of the crowd surging forward to greet the viewer is an amalgamation of local and national gay liberation in the 70’s. On a local level, I was inspired by the Summer of 1974 when 200 gay and lesbian people marched through downtown proclaim they were gay, which was the first such public event in San Diego as well as the public gathering at the Organ Pavillion that surrounded the assignation of Harvy Milk in 1978.

On a national level, the work is a call-back to a watershed moment in the civil rights movement – “Houston’s Stonewall” in 1977.  Outspoken, anti-gay singer Anita Bryant was greeted by ‘gay and straight' marchers protesting the unfair treatment of the gay community.  “Houston’s Stonewall” changed the national discussion.  As activist Ray Hill stated, “Before Anita, ‘gay community’ meant where the bars were.  After Anita, ‘gay community’ meant people.”

Wanting to empower viewers and move them from the past into the present, I intentionally left the signage raised by the grayscale crowd blank to be filled in by the viewer with slogans of their own time to defend diversity, freedom and pride.  Above the crowd spanning all three panels is my signature shaded rainbow, which appears to inspire the LGBTQIA+ community and straight allies during our complicated struggles with equality.

This work came to the attention of Lambda Archives after it was exhibited as part of Escondido Art Partnerships Art Riot exhibition and appeared in Boston Pride Guide 2018 accompanying an article on the early history of LGBTQIA+ Pride celebrations.  Historian and exhibition curator Lillian Faderman requested the art for the San Diego History Center Museum’s historic exhibition San Diego LGBTQ+, History, Struggles and Triumphs. Prominently displayed as part of the exhibition Pride & Protest (2018 - 2021), which was seen by thousands of people visiting Balboa Park.