Harvey Milk: Hope Will Never Be Silent - An LGBTQ Portrait [View all]
So much history. So many people. It’s the height of arrogance to think one could capture such a large part of humanity in one image. This doesn’t do that, but I tried to make it representative of how many amazing people make up the LGBTQ community. A truly amazing history of triumph, tragedy, courage, perseverance, and achievement.
where to start?
A year ago, I produced a portrait of Harvey Milk. It was used to promote a light installation called “Harvey’s Halo” in San Francisco’s Castro District.
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I have done typographic portraits before (Trump, Clinton)… and I’ve done one since (Dr. Blasey Ford).
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Harvey Milk seemed to be the perfect subject for one of these. As with other projects (For The Ages: The Obama Inaugural Civil Rights cover) the journey led from one story to the next. A lot of people I had heard about, but most were unfamiliar to me. As I am, by no means, an expert on the subject, I had to do a lot of reading to compile a representative list. It’s an amazing collection of individuals who have played a role (some tragic, some heroic, many trailblazers) in the quest for equality. Ideally, we would all know everyone’s name on this list and their place in history.
In no particular order, here’s what I came up with. (Your list will probably be different.)
Alexander The Great
Randy Shilts
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs
Karl-Maria Kertbeny
Jeremy Bentham
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Oscar Wilde
Magnus Hirschfeld
George Cecil Ives
Emma Goldman
Elsa Gidlow
Henry Gerber
Karol Maciej Szymanowski
Radclyffe Hall
Katharine Lee Bates
Federico García Lorca
Edythe D. Eyde
Christine Jorgensen
Alan Turing
Julio Sarria
Everett George Klippert
Carl Wittman
Frank Kameny
Nancy Wechsler
Freda Smith
Betty Berzon
James M. Foster
Madeline Davis
Kathy Kozachenko
Angela Morley
Leonard Matlovich
Allan Spear
Billie Jean King
Mary C. Morgan
Althea Garrison
Robert Hillsborough
Brandon Teena
Rita Hester
Matthew Shepard
Angie Zapata
Ally Lee Steinfeld
Roberta Achtenberg
Deborah Batts
Rachel Maddow
Patria Jiménez
Tammy Baldwin
Kim Coco Iwamoto
Ellen DeGeneres
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Elio Di Rupo
Donna Ryu
Jason Collins
Vicki Marlane
Tim Cook
Bayard Rustin
Barbara Gittings
Michelangelo
Walt Whitman
Gertrude Stein
Sylvia Rivera
James Baldwin
Harry Hay
Audre Lorde
Sally Ride
Deborah Sampson
Walt Whitman
John Maynard Keynes,
Allen Ginsberg
Graham Chapman
Truman Capote
Andy Warhol
Noel Coward
Elton John
Freddy Mercury
RuPaul
Keith Haring
John Gielgud
Sean Hayes
Ian McKellen
John Waters
James Whale
Barbara Jordan
Jodi Foster
Rosie O’Donnell
Lily Tomlin
Alice Walker
Martina Navratilova
Maureen Duffy
Abby Wambach
Sheryl Swoopes
Tennessee Williams
Marcel Proust
E.M. Forster
Langston Hughes
D.H. Lawrence
Yuko Mishima
Armistead Maupin
Sappho
Gore Vidal
Pedro Almodovar
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Bruce Nugent
Frank Ocean
Ashok Row Kavi
Daniel Choi
Barney Frank
Wendy Carlos
Sun Wenlin
Ellen Barrett
Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon
Herman Melville
Kristin Beck
Mark Bingham
Tori Johnson
Roger Casement
Pedro Zerolo
Jan Hamilton
Hans Scholl
Oliver Sipple
Daniel Hernandez Jr.
Eric Alva
Margaret Cho
Leo Varadkar
Ana Brnabic
David Kato
Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera
Margarethe Cammermeyer
Stephen Donaldson
Cleve Jones
Xulhaz Mannan
Larry Kramer
Gilbert Baker
Peter Tatchell
Marsha P. Johnson
Barbara Smith
Diego Vinales
Adrienne Rich
Morris Kight
John E. Fryer
Craig L. Rodwell
Randy Wicker
Kay Lahusen
Nikolay Alexeyev
Dan Savage
Daniel Nicoletta
Leonardo da Vinci
Lady Gaga
Xavier Bettel
Is there a mistake? Is there a glaring omission? If so, who would YOU replace?
Now I’m trying to create a limited-edition print (via this Kickstarter campaign. ) I’m also hoping to have this art at the new Harvey Milk terminal at San Francisco (SFO) Airport. (who knows if they’ll go for it, but , as Harvey would say, “Hope will never be silent.”) Please help spread the word.
Harvey Milk lost his life forty years ago, but his legacy and impact remain to this day. This tribute to him was created with those that came before him in mind. It was also made for those who worked with him and those that continue to work to make this a more perfect world.
I hope people will be inspired to take the journey I made to discover many of these people. Look at the names... some you will know. Others? Perhaps not. They've all played a part.
Our country, our world, is surely not where we should be, but with people like Harvey,
we'll eventually get there.
