Bedding Plants

The pansy project: art as a commemoration

queer bashing

“I think it’s time we went gay bashing again!” Grovesnor Street, Manchester by Paul Harfleet

I like the bald poignancy of this ongoing work which I just stumbled on. Paul Harfleet at The Pansy Project plants pansies at the sites of homophobic attacks. Each pansy is named after the incident involved. In his online gallery where the memorials are collected together, the simple images of vulnerable bedding plants sit alongside jarring titles like “Let’s kill the Bati-Man” or“Faggot! Pouf! Bender!” The most poignant of all are the ones with names as titles: For Dwan Price, For David Morley.

The Pansy Project will be at Shout Festival, Birmingham in November 2009.

Go to RSA Arts & Ecology