Adrienne White
To Grow Old, watercolor, 2020
Given, watercolor, 2020
Beyond the Confines, watercolor, 2020
People, Sights, Sounds, watercolor, 2020
Hyperfem & Sequin-Saturated, watercolor, 2020
Grown Over, watercolor, 2020
Warm Silence, watercolor, 2020
Shared Hours, watercolor, 2020
Brothers & Sisters Around Me, watercolor, 2020
Like Permission, watercolor, 2020
What I Carry in My Heart, watercolor, 2020
In The Daylight, watercolor, 2020
Something Mostly Intangible, watercolor, 2020
Bouquet Bigger Than Your Head, watercolor, 2020
Like A Heart, watercolor, 2020
Letting My Hair Grow, watercolor, 2020
Vacation Means 'Leave', watercolor, 2020
As I Am, watercolor, 2020
Breathing Alone, watercolor, 2020
After the Album Ends, watercolor, 2020
Decide to Exist, watercolor, 2020
All the Power I Contain, watercolor, 2020
In Memory, watercolor, 2020
Safe to Touch, watercolor, 2020
Snapshots
A life almost not lived, bathed in red,
the warmth of healing in orange, derived from privacy and bonds,
the yellow sunlight of internal peace,
the nature of continued green growth,
the blue serenity found in a loved one's arms,
and the bold spirit to live outside expectation cast in violet.
Removed from history and denied a future, LGBTQ+ people have been confined to present, ephemeral existences. To live outside of the predetermined cis-heteronormative structure means to look beyond the horizon, feeling as though there is nothing there. Gilbert Baker's 1978 flag design documents a future intent for LGBTQ+ people in the optimism of its vibrant stripes. There is delight, comfort, and solace found in a life that is built against all extenuating odds, beyond expectation. In Snapshots, I investigate this flag's stripes and their designated meanings by excavating the memories and hopes of LGBTQ+ individuals, memorializing them into frames of fleeting vulnerability and connection. Gathered from lived experiences and narratives, this series records what the symbol of each stripe means to LGBTQ+ individuals.
Rendered in watercolor, each painting is luminous and delicate. No larger than an average hand mirror each, their delicate size invites the same intimacy from the viewer as the work itself depicts. No painting is meant to be on its own, but instead, a part of a whole: an individual within a wide, colorful spectrum. This tapestry of hopeful memories celebrates the symbolic flag that has rallied the LGBTQ+ community’s collective optimism, while bringing it anew into a personal declaration of joy.