Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Juliana Rhys posted “Gayer Together” which is an important truth about the LGBTIQA+ movement, that there is strength in numbers. That’s why homophobes try to ban IRL Pride parades and Pride events. That’s why the homophobes try to erase gay and trans history and their contributions to science, arts, technology, and history..
But even when they are banned from marching, gay people are showing up in numbers greater than ever - including, as it turns out, in virtual worlds like Second Life. In fact, it’s platforms like these where they often turn, when they don't feel safe expressing their full identity in their real lives.
Since Pride month just ended, I decided to take a look back at the pictures from the month. Flickr Search was a bit wonky, and there were over 1700 of pictures from just in June. But I still found a lot to like
For more Pride pictures, click here:
Remy / the neat jinx expresses the righteous anger that animates many LGBTIQA+ people with his shirt and his face. I am glad to see some anger.
People like to say anger comes from fear. They say that to invalidate anger. Anger comes from a lot of places and sometimes anger comes from love. People confuse anger with bullying, abuse, violence, and aggression, but those are behaviors. Anger is an emotion and is often motivated by wanting to protect the people you love. It’s about standing up for your values, for yourself, your friends, your family, and your community. Anger when directed toward positive change, in control, can be a good thing. After all, “if you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.
I like what Maya Angelou said about anger:
“If you’re not angry, you’re either a stone, or you’re too sick to be angry. You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn’t do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger, yes. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it.”
Or screenshotting it:
Beachy Piers shared “Another Brick in the Wall” where she is holding a brick, perhaps to throw it at a tower of Harry Potter books. The truck behind her says “Pride Is Still a Riot.” I have never seen that sign before and I have been to several Pride Festivals, participated in Queer Nation’s April Fool’s Day Challenge Queer for a Day, and spent my professional career working for organizations that defend and expand gay and trans rights. (I blogged about Queer for a Day in 2012.) The sign is clever and I can’ t believe I haven’t seen it before. (Pride, by the way, began to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising after a violent police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar.)
Here is (above) a gallery of just 150 of the pictures from Second Life’s Pride Month, but remember, Pride is not just a parade, a party, or a month, it is an all-day, year-around belief in the innate dignity of all people. It’s not tolerance, it’s PRIDE and it never goes away.
All images copyright the various artists
See all Cajsa's Choices here. Want to recommend an artist to feature? Tag Cajsa with your favorite pics on Flickr, on Primfeed, and Facebook. (Self-promotion welcome!)
Cajsa’s Choices is devoted to unique, artistic, and innovative virtual world-based images and screenshots that showcase the medium as an art form and Second Life as a creative platform. (Generally not images that fit on this Bingo card.)
Cajsa Lilliehook is a seventeen year resident of Second Life, where she owned a photo studio, spent several years as a DJ at The Velvet, and for her first SL job, cleaned up prim trash. She co-founded and runs the It’s Only Fashion blog with her best friend Gidge Uriza. She also has a book review blog, Tonstant Weader Reviews and a cooking blog, Single Serving Recipes. She spends a lot of time researching and reporting on Republican sexual predators. In her first life, she is a retired grassroots leader who has worked for economic and social justice issues most of her life. She is also the minion of a cat named Nora.
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