Calvin Klein – Moments of Pride

Known for their long standing support for the LGBTQ+ community, Calvin Klein launches a collaborative project with four queer artists to explore and exhibit their unique defining moments by creating murals. Poet Tanaka Fuego takes London, creating a mural which displays parts of an original poem with the theme of “queer black and brown folk who came to the Western world and were forced into public service”. Sarah Naqvi, a contemporary artist who lives between Mumbai and Amsterdam, creates a mural in Amsterdam of a landscape inhabited by characters exhibiting “queer ecologies and erased histories that are essential for queer people and their empowerment”. Archival activist Danielle Brathwaite’s mural is in Berlin, archiving the black trans experience by using bright colours and themes of togetherness and metamorphosis. The fourth artist, Dafne Boggeri created a mural in Milan that features a pattern formed by masks, representing “stylized Greek mythological figures of Melpomene and Thalia”. 

With the help of Calvin Klein, these four artists and activists have taken this opportunity to produce such moving, beautiful, and prominent pieces. Each and every mural expresses themes so vital to life and the human condition. Be sure to keep up with Calvin Klein and the four artists to witness the unfolding of these defining moments.

calvinklein.com

May the ink carry me home
may the stage be kind not to swallow me in hopes of ears being open to
hear a miracle.
breathe… Easy
when found in resistance
my pen dripping in resilience
I am
all my Ancestors wildest dreams
yet made to feel burden
but most these folk
don’t know the magic
formulated by sacrifices.
I am living proof
The silence of those before me
Has not gone unheard
How could it,
when even the sun
That’s hard to find most days
Kisses me daily
To comfort my hoarse voice.
With honey, garlic and lemon remedies My mother has passed down
Thru a cup
Holding all the jewels
of tomorrow
And every new day to come.

@tanaka.fuego
Tanaka Fuego (he/they) created Ancestors Encore in London