‘Queer Power’ Coloring Book Honors LGBTQ+ Activists And Cultural Icons

Coloring books have made a comeback in recent years, hoping to inspire mindfulness and calm amid the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. Now, LGBTQ+ persons and allies can honor activists and cultural icons with a new Queer Power! coloring book.

Created by Chitra Ganesh, the black and white images highlight important figures to offer comfort during this difficult period while many in the United States grapple with legislation that seems to be taking away more of women’s and queer rights.

Illustrations in the book were based on the artist’s QueerPower public art installation for The Leslie Lohman Museum of Art in New York City, featuring the queer and transgender history of downtown Manhattan and neighborhoods surrounding Soho.

Fans can color in 19th-century architecture from Black settlements in Seneca Village and Little Africa, along with 17th-century Lenape structures that no longer exist, the beautiful floral and fauna that can only be seen in the city, and portraits of figures such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Each coloring book comes with essays by Eria Cardwell, Jeannine Tang, and Riya Lerner, with a complete index listing the contributions of each figure featured within its page. In addition, transgender victims of color who were murdered between 2020 and 2021 are remembered.

According to Hyperallergic, Ganesh left a few pages intentionally blank, allowing for fans to become co-authors of the book and contribute to it “as a living document,” so that more attention can be brought to the contributions of queer activists and allies that may not be in the public eye.

Queer Power: A Time Travelling Coloring Book retails at US$25 on Chitra Ganesh’s official website.

[via Hyperallergic and Chitra Ganesh, images via Chitra Ganesh]