THE SIGNIFIERS OF IDENTITY ARE HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
LBTQ artists have always existed and so has LGBTQ+ art. Antiquity was a time of more acceptance, Greeks and Romans had more open attitudes towards sexuality (Hadrian and Antinous, Achilles and Patroclus, David and Johnathan) that is why artists from all ages constantly return to these sources and have been inspired by their predecessors.
Visual symbols like flowers (violets, Green carnations, or roses), peacock feathers, colored handkerchiefs, the nautical star tattoo, the lambda symbol, a lavender rhinoceros with a red heart, the unicorn, the rainbow, the infamous inverted pink triangle and its reappropriation in the 80s with the meaning: Silence = Death due to AIDS… Throughout history, visual signs have hinted at secret sexualities, and hidden identities and in recent decades pointed out activism for human rights.
But not only visuals but there have also been linguistic codes too that imply queer experiences and inner lives, the vernacular slang ‘Polari’ vocabulary used by the English gay men in the 1930s, ‘Friend of Dorothy’ in the American army, the “lavender lexicon‘… etc
Legal changes have made the lives of people of sexual diversity more open and free, nowadays the world of queer art is louder and became mainstream, at the 79th Venice Film Festival for instance, several films relate their storytelling to transgender identities,
Archivists, art historians, and museum curators have work to do, we expect to learn more about the many manifestations of queer art in the History of Art. There is every color in the spectrum, isn’t there?
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Review by José Mayorga , Guatemala, Central America lawyer and notary public, visual artist, and editor of
El Azar Cultural, lives and works in Guatemala City. Cinema lover, curious about the possibilities life brings and
eager to live the experience.Labels: 2022, José Mayorga, LGBTQ+ art, secret languages, The Queer Code
