Sioux Tempestt’s tribute to Andy Warhol and Perth’s LGBTQI+ community.

PRIDE Month’s been marked by a new mural melding the style of gay icon Andy Warhol with local LGBTQI+ people. 

Warhol was one of the few figures who openly lived as a gay man before the Stonewall riots and the rights revolution of the late 1960s. 

Local artist Sioux Tempestt painted the mural on North Perth’s Rainbow Community House, with Vincent council funding the mural to support Pride WA. Tempestt says “the artistic style pays homage to Andy Warhol, whose work I greatly admire. The concept invites viewers to embrace LGTBQI+ culture and Warhol’s role as a gay icon”.

The palette uses the six colours of the Pride flag’s stripes, and Tempestt says referencing Warhol in the piece “acknowledges the importance of identity self expression and the progress the LGBTQI+ movement has made over the years”.

Lesbians and trans people were pillars of the queer rights movement from day dot. But they were sometimes marginalised from the Gay rights movement and men were often the most visible figures, until recent years when there’s been greater visibility of the full spectrum of LGBTQI+. 

Tempestt says the faces’ “gender diversity and the various emotive states represent the diverse LGTBQI+ community and the challenges and triumphs experienced. 

“This direct participation and engagement aims to provide an insight into the local LGTBQI+ community.” 

The mural is on Rainbow Community House at 4 View Street. 

by DAVID BELL