In honor of Pride month Santa Monica Pride (SaMo Pride) is featuring a Rainbow Road Art Walk from June 4th- June 30th.
Beginning in 2019 The Santa Monica Pier, Downtown Santa Monica, and Santa Monica Place, in collaboration with the City of Santa Monica and Santa Monica Travel and Tourism organized SaMo Pride to safely celebrate Santa Monica’s inclusive and diverse spirit and raise awareness for the LGBTQIA+ community with a focus on family friendly displays and activities.
Spanning Third Street Promenade, through Santa Monica Place, and leading through the Santa Monica Pier, strollers can appreciate 13 incredible one-of-a-kind art installations by LGBTQIA+ artists throughout Pride month.
The art walk is presented in partnership with Allies in Arts, a local nonprofit whose mission is to support womxn, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists who are often underrepresented in creative industries.
The 13 artists and a description of their work are listed below:
“Rainbows of Resilience” by artist Parisa Parnian.
A technicolor, large-scale digital illustration of a fantastical PRIDE parade scene with Santa Monica as its backdrop. It is a celebration of the resilience and ability to continue to find joy that the QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous People of Color) communities of LA have displayed in the past year.
“Chosen Family” by artist Jeromy Velasco x Yaicecream.
Too often people in the LGBTQ+ community face rejection and abandonment from their biological families: chosen family can serve as an important method of survival as well as creating loving bonds. The idea of floating dance floors over the LA skyline came originally from the sentiment that “chosen families uplift one another.” Dancefloors have always been a space for queer people to let loose and be themselves. The artists wanted to transport their traditionally 2D work into a 3D, interactive space that encourages the public to take photos with their chosen families and loved ones.
“The Mothers of Pride Pearly Gateway” by artist Grey.
In many indigenous cultures queer beings were considered holy and to be gatekeepers in between this world and the rest. This piece is a play on that indigenous ideology and western religions iconography and how they resonate within self and our community. Where do our mothers go? Home.
“The ArtsNotParts Archive” also by artist Grey.
“ArtsNotParts” was a collective street art movement made in response and defense of the trans community in 2017. An anti-trans bathroom bill was just passed inspiring Grey… to co-conspire with fellow artists and establishments to collaborate and reclaim space in communities around the world by tagging streets, bathrooms, and infamously Trump Tower in NYC in defense of trans rights. This archive symbolizes a step taken to reclaim public space and share collective love.
“I Stand With Trans Youth” and “I’m Love My Queer Family” by artist James Kinsley Daniel.
Allies in Arts wanted to respond to current rises in transphobic legislation and rhetoric with interactive pieces visitors could pose with and photograph to show their support for trans youth and queer family. James Kinsley Daniel’s vision was to create a clean, simple backdrop with dimension and visual excitement. “”I love a pattern and repeating geometric shapes. And a 1970s throwback is always fun.” said Daniel.
“Love Letters” by artist Chris Classen.
The work is text based, messages of love and loss, cut into colored transparent film, and placed on borosilicate glass tubes (just larger than a fluorescent light bulb). The tubes are then slipped over bulbs in existing spaces to be found. Like a contemporary message in a bottle.
“Queer Bodies / Queer Identities” by artist Katt Fox.
“Queer Bodies / Queer Identities” is a personal exploration of body and mind. This body of work started as a way of creating identifiable imagery that more so reflected a vision of the artist in their mind’s eye. Over many years, and numerous contributions later, we find a full breathe representing a community yearning for healing and liberation.
“Protest and Pageantry” by artist UnderNewMGMT.
Inspired by trans performers turned activists, “Protest and Pageantry” is both a memorial and celebration. This work aims to provide a space where the viewer can celebrate iconic trans persons-of-color performers such as Marsha P. Johnson, Sir Lady Java, and Sylvia Rivera, as well pay tribute to the numerous trans lives lost to violence. This work is a collaboration by Queer artists UnderNewMGMT and ShakesTheArtist.
“Where Will U Take You” by artist Annie Hong aka “Hootnannie”.
This piece is a colorful reminder to allow yourself to explore the infinite possibilities that exist within yourself. Where will you go, who will you be if you allow yourself to be free?
“E(we) are all Crazy Beautiful!” by artist Ricky Sencion.
The installation features 21 of Ricky’s SHEEP MOONSTERS. Behind the series, is the idea that e(we) are all different. E(we) are all queer. It’s because of our differences that we are connected. Because of our differences, e(we) are all crazy beautiful.
“Together forever” by artist Erick Luis.
Supporting one another, spreading love and peace to the world. Together we’ll make a difference by celebrating with Pride and Joy around every corner.
“A Very Gay Mural” by artists Jenson Titus and Nic Scheppard.
Nicholas Scheppard and Jenson Titus are Los Angeles based comedians who, through the use of ancient gay wizardry, began turning walls gay with paint in 2020.
For more information visit smpride.com.
