Diversity. Uniqueness. Authenticity.
These are all things Marie Pujanes wanted to capture and celebrate in her illustration for Gym+Coffee and Pride 2022.
This Pride Month, we want to hear the voices of the community and give them a platform, because no one understands Pride better than a community member!
Marie, who is also known by her Instagram handle @marieisaterribleartist, is a self-processed part-time artist, full-time doodler. A member of the LGBTQ+ herself, it was important for Marie to share her story and represent others in the community.
“I created this art piece with diversity in mind,” Marie explains. “For many people, pride is about being different and celebrating the fact that we are all unique. This includes sexuality and gender identity as well as skin colour, culture, background, ability and more. I felt it was important to capture people from all walks of life in the piece, showing them celebrating who they are and their differences.”
Marie reveals the special role that the Pride flag had in her design, explaining “I wanted to make the characters as different as possible and decided to use the colours of the pride flag instead of skin colours. I felt this was the best way to represent everyone in the community.”
“Pride is about being different and celebrating the fact that we are all unique”
Every character in the piece has their own story.
“It was difficult to only create 5 characters as there is so much diversity within the community, so I took some inspiration from my queer friends,” she says. “It was really important to show the characters having fun as they are celebrating themselves and their community, and I think the bright colours really helped with this.”
The final result now sits proudly, front and centre of the Gym+Coffee Pride Tote Bags + Water Bottles, a project we are honoured to be collaborating with Marie on.
If you love Marie’s illustration as much as we do, you can purchase it on one of our Gym+Coffee Pride Tote Bags in our clubhouses or Water Bottles online or in our clubhouses.
All proceeds from this incredible collection will go to two very special charities: BeLonG To + The Proud Trust.
