Just in time New York’s Pride Month events, Street Artist Buff Monster unveils a wash of color and melty characters in lower Manhattan to commemorate the 50 anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village.

Over the next month a number of artists will be painting murals across the city as part of World Pride and we hope that in some way this campaign will reach those across the world who still long to be free but who are restricted by laws, even threatened, persecuted, and killed for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or otherwise queer.

We talked to Buff to see what he was thinking when he was painting this mural over 6 days.

“It’s nice to see that NYC is getting involved in what looks to be the biggest pride celebration ever, but there still so many places around the US that are super conservative and unwilling to be inclusive after all these years,” he tells us. “It’s a shame that equality for all is still an issue in 2019, when we have so many other serious issues in the world that need to be addressed. It seems like there are news articles every day about this administrations’ efforts to undermine the progress we’ve made; so there is no better time to paint this mural.”

BSA: What are the thematic elements that correspond to Pride and the rights of LGBTQ people?

Buff Monster: The characters have a bunch of mixed emotions, which mirrors the long journey for equality of the LGBTQ community. Putting together a diverse set of my cartoony ice cream characters, filled with the iconic rainbow, seemed like a good way to bring a bit of levity to a very serious issue.

All in all though, I think the colors and the characters create a positive and optimistic image, in line with this year’s Pride celebration and the future of equality. I’m really happy with how it turned out and I think it’s a really nice addition to the neighborhood.

With our thanks to Wayne and Rey at The LISA Project for organizing the artists for this event.

This installation is part of the World Pride Mural Project Initiative. For more information please click here.

For More about Buff Monster and his World Pride Mural please click here.

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