Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? Plato suggested that “art imitates life.” Oscar Wilde expanded the thought and suggested that “life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” believing that life is inspired and shaped by artistic creations.
Artistic creations have emerged around Santa Cruz during March and April on painted utility boxes, depicting stories of the Santa Cruz County LGBTQ+ community in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Santa Cruz Pride. Called the Santa Cruz Pride Public Art Project, it is funded by the City of Santa Cruz Economic Development and Arts Commission.
Photo: Kiersten Elzy-Loving
Longtime Santa Cruz residents Kiersten Elzy-Loving and Amanda Altice Harris were part of the Pride Art Subcommittee who helped oversee the project. According to Elzy-Loving, “this project shows the power of people coming together to make positive change in their immediate communities, and by doing so, creating change in the wider world. The Pride Public Art Project is a powerful combination of education and celebration.”
Artists submitted their designs and the Pride Art Subcommittee worked with each artist to refine the image to ensure that it reflected the diverse cultural heritage and history of Santa Cruz County’s LGBTQ+ people.
The Liminal Space Collective, many of whom identify as queer, painted a box near the Santa Cruz Town Clock that shows the past and future through the arches of the Town Clock. “Celebration is resistance, and resistance is celebration,” a collective member[1] says. “We know that our work to transform oppressive systems will never be finished—but we will try regardless, and find joy in the process.”
Melissa Marzan, a queer bisexual Filipina American, completed an image depicting the Santa Cruz Radical Faeries and shares how their utility box is “a celebration of love and support for our Trans & BIPOC/AAPI individuals in the Santa Cruz community…be sure and see both sides of the utility box so you can take your photo with the wings to represent how you are also magical and radical.”
Take a drive around Santa Cruz and find the 10 painted art boxes by these artists: Alice Morrison, Brayden Lillie, Cam McKay, the Branciforte Middle School Muskequeers, Jessica Evanjelista, Jennifer Soriano, Liminal Space Collective, Melissa Marzan, Melissa West, and Ty Brown. Stories about each artist can be found at Santacruzpride.org.
READ ALL THE STORIES IN OUR PRIDE ANNIVERSARY COVERAGE
Out of the Closet and Into the Streets
by Rob Darrow
No Going Back
by Kyara Rodriguez
Showing Pride
by Kyara Rodriguez
Loud and Proud
by Kyara Rodriguez
