June is Pride Month, a time for commemorating the ongoing pursuit of justice for the LGBTQIA+ community. While it’s fun and feels good to show your support throughout this annual celebration, it’s also important to recognize that Pride doesn’t end on July 1st. To help keep the spotlight on issues that still impact LGBTQIA+ people every day, the never-ending Pride Forever challenge at Threadless calls for artists to make Pride-themed art all year long.
If you’d like to incorporate Pride themes in your own Artist Shop and could use some inspiration, stop by the Pride Forever collection. There, you’ll find hundreds of incredible designs that channel the spirit of Pride from the unique perspectives of members and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community. We recently reached out to artists who participated in this challenge to learn how they came up with their designs and what Pride means to them. Here’s what they had to say.
Tobe Fonseca embraces a love that transcends the confines of gender.
“In designing this piece, my intention was to make a political statement. While we all have our own personal preferences, the focus here is not on that aspect. It is about recognizing that in a society, every individual should possess the right and freedom to express their true selves and love whomever they choose. As human beings, we should embrace a love that transcends the confines of gender, and that is the principle I strive to embody in my own life.
Pride, to me, is all about acceptance and embracing who you truly are. It’s a celebration of life, despite the challenges we face as queer individuals. Coming out as gay at 30 was a turning point, and I’ve been lucky to find acceptance and love from both my family and my husband’s. Pride is about asserting our right to exist and celebrating it. We don’t want special treatment; we simply seek equality and the freedom to be ourselves.”
Tobe Fonseca
Pink Cheek Studios reminds people to be exactly who they are.
“I wanted to make a woman who was very free, so I put her on a unicorn soaring through space—above it all. For some reason, I also thought it would be cool if she was rescuing bunnies. I imagine her as a funkier, nurturing, Mother Nature type reminding people to be exactly who they are and to feel free and unburdened about it.
To me pride means loving others and loving yourself just as you are.”
Nichól Brinkman, Pink Cheek Studios
Robson Borges channels the Black and Latinx gay ballroom scene of the ’80s.
“’Strike a Pose’ was inspired by the song ‘Vogue’ by Madonna. Vogue, or voguing, is a highly stylized, modern house dance originating in the late 1980s that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene of the 1960s.
Vinyl and the colors of the rainbow are PRIDE that represents a fight for equality and the rights of a community that deserves to be happy.”
Robson Borges
HistoriDOGraphy encourages people to embrace their own identity.
“The general recipe for most of my work is [animals+art/time]. For Pride, I thought a chameleon standing out from its setting, dignified in its rainbow of colors was fitting. The LGBTQ community has historically been forced to hide the authentic self and blend in to the surroundings, like a chameleon. Pride means embracing one’s identity, finding strength in it, and enriching the vibrancy of one’s community in the process—so, that’s what I tried to convey.”
HistoriDOGraphy
Félix Pimenta emphasizes the importance of community.
“…The initial idea was to create a design featuring a cheerful flower with a gentle smile inviting another flower to dance, both with colorful petals, referring to the LGBTQIA+ community. I thought of some quotes for the composition, but the ideas I had made me imagine that I would be focusing too much on the theme of ‘dance.’ I actually wanted the focus to be more on the LGBTQIA+ community.
So I did an unpretentious visual test by duplicating the two flowers that I had already created, and placed the copy side by side. When I did this, I could see that all the leaves were creating a ‘harmonious wave visual,’ and I really liked what I saw. It was really interesting.
In anthropomorphic terms, in this design the leaves are like arms and hands, and the harmony in the way these leaves are arranged reminds me of the idea of community. It’s as if the flowers were united, holding each other’s hands, and that makes me think about the importance of being in a community, that is, the importance of knowing that you can count on people who are willing to help you, because both you and them have stories, experiences, and particularities in common. All of this brings us together and, in my opinion, has everything to do with the true sense of community.
For me, Pride is the driving force that encourages us to express and bring out what is inside us and that is valuable, to fight for what we believe in and what we defend. Pride makes us confident so we are not to be ashamed of being who we really are.”
Félix Pimenta
Thank you to all of the participating artists who gave us insights into their Pride Forever designs! Visit the collection to find more examples of Pride-themed art that celebrates individuality, challenges norms, and addresses issues directly impacting the LGBTQIA+ community.
If you’re inspired to create Pride-themed art for your own Artist Shop, we highly recommend using Threadless Causes to donate a portion of your proceeds to an LGBTQIA+ charity of your choice. Every time your Causes–related designs sell, Threadless also matches your donation. Available charities include The Trevor Project, Trans Lifeline, the Victory Fund, and more.
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