Broken Pedestals is my concept for a larger showcase of visual artworks that starts with this pod of LGBTQ people living in Berlin before World War II. These individuals loved, fought and played as openly we do today.

By the 1920s, Berlin was a city of refuge for our community. The early start of the modern gay movement took root in this city which included the first organizations, nightclubs, novels, magazines, films, gender reassignment surgeries and fights for equality. Though these freedoms came to an abrupt end with the rise of Hitler and WWII, they set the stage for Stonewall decades later.

The title Broken Pedestals has several meanings. In part it has to do with the suppression of LGBTQ history, which has deliberately fragmented our community’s connection to the past. It also seeks to address the weaponization of cancel culture that would pull down our forebearers because of their flaws.

It is my hope that perhaps as the Broken Pedestals project develops, it will be seen regionally in association with our LGBTQ Archives. I would like the viewer to actively consider how we embrace the humanity of our forebears? What do the contributions of the past say about us as a community today?  What can learn from our history to shape our future?

This is an ongoing project. I am still exploring my own understanding of what developed out of Berlin but I imagine creating a minimum of two more pods. One set in New York in the years around Stonewall. Another set in San Francisco in the years when AIDS emerged.

Click here to see my creative process as posted on Instagram.

Der Eigene (The Unique) and Die Freundin (The Girlfriend) were ground breaking Gay and Lesbian Publications that were read during the lives of this Berlin Pod.

The Pink and Black Triangles were used as badges of shame in Nazi Germany Concentration Camps. In the 1970s, both were reclaimed as positive symbol of self-identity and love for queerness.