John Mar: Natural Fabrics 🌈

'Live your life in color!'

Although most countries officially celebrate PRIDE in June, PRIDE season actually runs June through September.  In small town where I reside, the parade is later in the summer, as not to conflict with the major parades and celebrations in the larger cities nearby.    Given how PRIDE month irritates so many intolerants on the right, I guess it's a good thing most don't actually realize it's actually a four month season. 

I've always had sort of conflicting feeling about PRIDE.  It's not that I'm not proud of who I am, it's more that I've always struggled with the feeling proud over something natural, and something I had, nor have any control over.  I had no control over my sexuality.  Much like my height, my race, and who my family members are, they are just what they are.  They were the natural cards I was delt.

When I think of self-pride, I don't think of my sexuality, nor  do I really even  think about my career, education or accomplishments.  I most associate pride with who I am as a person.  How I treat other people, how I loath cruelty of any kind.  I think of how I've tried  to help others, how I treat animals, and my respect for nature.  I think of how I strive to be a good friend, a good son, a good brother and a decent human being.

Over time however, I've made the connection to those things I can control, with those that I can't.  Those natural parts of me formed the fabric to allow and support me to be who I am, and to motivate how I act and how I try to treat others. I'm sure my struggles with self-acceptance as a teen, helped my understanding of others who struggle.  The cruelty I experienced as a kid has no doubt impacted my feelings on the issue as an adult.

Who I am, and what I'm proud of is a combination of things I can control, and the thigs I cannot.  I guess beyond what is, it's more specifically how I choose to experience, process and handle both my natural qualities with my chosen characteristics.  Either way, I now realize that both stem from being a part of the LBGTQ community.

I also know that over the past ten years or so, the community needs PRIDE more than ever.  Both an internal sense of pride, and the external celebrations that are part of the month and season.  Rainbow flags, crosswalks and symbols have been systematically been removed from public spaces and places over the last decade, the last year and half in particular.  

When it came to visual representations of PRIDE , there is a one particular artist who's captured some of my favorites.  I love the way photographer John Mar captures the beauty of the rainbow symbol in the fabric he incorporates within his images.   John loves the contrast of the model, often in black and white, with the supersaturated color of the fabric.  The fabric not only captures the rainbow, but the freedom and beauty of living a life of color.

John Mar on Instagram
John Mar on BlueSky