Downtown Calgary art sends a message before Pride Week (PHOTOS)
A Calgary park is now decorated with an art installation ahead of Calgary Pride thanks to Shaw Pride Marches On. And there is a strong message behind every brush stroke.
The art is on full display at the corners of Central Memorial Park, with new works by four 2SLGBTQ+, BIPOC, and ally artist teams.
Nicole Wolf and Sarah Slaughter/Shaw Pride Marches On
Every piece carries with it a strong meaning and a purpose as we get ready for Calgary Pride 2022.
Ward 8 Councilor Courtney Walcott says the central location of this is important.
“Choosing spaces like this is so significant, the idea that people will be coming here,” Walcott explained. “This is the type of symbols that we are planting in a space that represents every single Calgarian.”
Chey Suwâtâgâ Mû/Shaw Pride Marches On
The location itself has historical importance to Pride as well. Central Memorial Park was home to Calgary’s first Pride protest over 30 years ago. Over 100 2SLGBTQ+ came to the park to protest discrimination and fight for equality.
Ryan Danny Owen, one of the artists, says that it is important to honour that history while looking to the future.
“There’s so much work that’s been done in order for us to live authentically in the way that we do. Pride has a long history of being about activism and about pushing for greater acceptance. That’s something that we need to be looking at as we are looking to move forward. Progress is never static.”
Ryan Danny Owner and Kat Simmers/Shaw Pride Marches on
Ryan, along with Kat Simmers put together Pride in Protest. Ryan says the signs in the piece have meaning today just like they did many years ago.
“We’ve always been here so it was kind of about exploring the history and the fact that these words on protest signs and these words that mean something back in the ’80s mean something just as much today and they actually transcend time.”
Ryan Danny Owen and Kat Simmers/Shaw Pride Marches On
This comes a couple of weeks after Canmore Pride received a homophobic response to a request they made to a Canmore business. Kat says those types of emails make the work they do so much more important.
“So much of that energy that you saw in that email comes from people not having real connections with queer folks or with trans people in particular. And I find it really powerful being a street artist that I’m out in these communities and I’m working and you know, there are opportunities to talk to me, there’s just like the fact that I’m present there. There’s something powerful about that. About like, knowing that we’re here, this is our city as much as anyone else. And if you get to know us, we’re wonderful people, we’re not monsters.”
Trans Colours by Central Memorial Park in Calgary
Kat says they have done around 15 murals similar to this one and says they all have a political message behind them.
“I think politics is definitely always present in the work that I’m doing. I love to throw around a Toni Morrison quote, that I like to paraphrase, ‘If you’re not making work that’s actively political then just beautifying the status quo.’ I like to keep that in mind.”
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