PAUL HARFLEET (UK)
Paul Harfleet’s 15 year Pansy Project has seen him travel the world to plant pansies on the streets at the site of homophobic abuse. This small act of memorial and resistance is powerful, and not without risk for the artist – he recently planted a pansy without permission on the lawn of the White House, in protest at President Trump’s homophobic remarks. For Nuart, Paul worked with FRI Rogaland and Stavanger Pride to identify sites of abuse. For the first time, he painted – rather than planted – pansies on the walls of the city, as pansies could not be sourced out of season. He reports that this new challenge gave him the opportunity to critically reflect on his process, and to consider how he could work with paint and city walls to produce small-scale, yet high impact, memorials of resistance for those who have been targeted by homophobic and transphobic abuse.
Film by Paul Harfleet during Nuart Festival 2019.
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