Yellow Springs Pride, Inc. commissions local LGBTQ+ artist, Iden Crockett, for an exclusive, limited edition 2022 YS Pride Festival T-shirt design. Partnering with an LGBTQ+ specific artist aligns with the organization's values of fostering opportunities, and presenting ideas from within the community that helps the artist to thrive, promote creativity, and offer additional creative outlets for visibility and inclusion.
2022 marks the first year of the YS Pride LGBTQ+ Artist Spotlight initiative. The program seeks to select individuals who not only possess the artistic passion and desire to represent such a diverse program, but the ability to capture the spirit of YS Pride through the lens of their creative perspective(s). The YS Pride Festival Committee, under the direction of the Yellow Springs Pride Inc. Board of Directors, selects the LGBTQ+ artist to spotlight. With funds available through sponsorship, partners, and donations, the artist is commissioned to bring their very unique work to life. This design is featured at exclusive YS Pride event locations, with proceeds supporting a stipend for the artist, and future spotlight artist opportunities.
This year, the artist spotlight shirts will be available exclusively at the YS Pride Pop Up Shops on Saturdays in June from 12pm - 4pm located in downtown Yellow Springs, as well as at the YS Pride Festival on Saturday, June 25, 2022.
THE 2022 LGBTQ+ ARTIST SPOTLIGHT DESIGN
THE STORY BEHIND THE DESIGN Visibility was on my mind as I created this piece. I believe that visibility leads to equality and that now is the hour for all members of the LGBTQ+ community to step forward and proudly claim our place in this world. Each one of us is beautiful and it is time to stop hiding.
The black and white background is meant to invoke feelings of night, clouds, and fog. All obscuring phenomena. But there is sunlight and rainbows, there is hope and beauty behind those clouds. It is easy to forget that. It is possible for each one of us to stand in the light and the warmth but only if we part the clouds, only if we blow away the fog and step out of the shadow. The figures in the piece are doing exactly that. The top figure is rending the clouds to reveal the sun and the rainbow of diversity. The figure to the right is using the power of her voice to push back the fog. The one to the left is stepping out of the darkness with quiet confidence while the central figure encourages us all to own our beauty.
The rainbow of course is to give the piece some recognizable pride symbology. I made the decision to separate it into three sections to reference a motif that I use often
in my work of three parallel lines, a specific reference to my own journey. The number three(also found in the arrangement of the words) is also meant to reinforce the triangular arrangement of figures which references the triangle badge originally meant to identify and shame the queer community. The entire composition is meant to convey a sense of powerful movement, energy, excitement, and activism. With the stability of the triangle of human community giving purpose and shape to that energy.
Finally there is the tiny figure diving from the rainbow. The scale difference is there to acknowledge the fear we can feel in coming out and the risks we take we tell our truth.
-Description by Iden Crockett, Artist
MEET THE ARTIST
Iden Crockett is new to the art world. She uses her poetry and mixed media to create intensely personal pieces. Her creations tell the story of her journey through ptsd, depression and the discovery of her identity as a transgender woman.
She is the author of Black, White, and Red All Over an illustrated volume of poetry available on amazon.com as well as the monthly column “My Name is Iden” in the Yellow Springs News. She lives in Yellow Springs with her wife and three children.
Follow her work here: mynameisiden.com
If you would like to support the YS Pride LGBTQ+ Artist Spotlight initiative, click here.
Special thanks to graphic design sponsor:
Yellow Springs Pride, INC. is a not-for-profit organization that provides inclusive year-round resources supporting the LGBTQ+ community. #BeYourselfHere