The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress visit to Vancouver
Icesis Couture at the National Gallery of Canada. Photo: Amsterdam Rainbow Dress Foundation & Adam Zivo
The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress visit to Vancouver
The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress will be visiting Vancouver from August 3 to August 5, ahead of the 2023 Vancouver Pride Parade. The dress depicts flags from countries where it is punishable by law to be LGBTQIA+, is used to encourage debate and awareness about inclusion and equal rights even beyond the place where the dress is shown.
The dress will be photographed by Jamie Mann in the British Columbia Parliament Building in Victoria, at the Vancouver Art Gallery and on Jericho Beach. During these shoots, the dress will be worn by three well-known LGBTQIA+ community members, Kendall Gender (runner up Canada’s Drag Race season 2), Jaylene Thyme (two-spirited indigenous advocate) and Norma Lize (trans activist and member of Rainbow Refugee).
The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress is a 52-foot-tall work of living art made from the flags of the 68 countries where being LGBTIQ+ is punishable by law. It also includes the flags of eight countries in which homosexual acts can result in the death penalty. Since its creation in 2016, the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress has traveled around the world to call attention to the fight for equality, inclusiveness, and tolerance. Arnout van Krimpen, the dress’ creator, adds: “In addition to our call for eliminating existing anti LGBTIQ+ legislations, we want to make our own community and our allies constantly aware that freedom needs to be maintained. Freedom needs love, freedom needs care because it is the most precious thing we have.”
The Netherlands is a strong advocate for LGBTIQ+ rights and in 2001 became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. The Dutch organization for LGBTIQ+ (COC) founded in 1946, is the oldest worldwide. LGBTIQ+ has been at the heart of the Dutch government’s human rights policy for decades.
The Dress has been modelled by a variety of models from the global LGBTQIA+ community in various countries, including Australia, Denmark, Mozambique, South Africa, the United States and Sweden. In 2021, the dress visited Canada’s east coast.
During the visit in Vancouver, the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress will partner with the Vancouver Art Gallery.
During the press moment on August 4th in the Vancouver Art Gallery, media are invited to photograph and/or videotape the photo shoot and interview: Arnout van Krimpen, founder of the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress Foundation, Jaylene Thyme, two-spirited indigenous activist, Sirish Rao, Director of Public Engagement and Learning for the Vancouver Art Gallery, and Dutch Consul General Sebastiaan Messerschmidt.
Later in the day, the professional photographs of the dress will be available for media to download upon request via amy.wezenberg@minbuza.nl.
Media should register to cover the event via the sign-up link below by 12 p.m. on August 2nd. For questions, please contact Amy Wezenberg via amy.wezenberg@minbuza.nl.
Press Breakfast details:
The press breakfast will be on August 4th, from 8:45 AM to 10 AM at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Please note that the order of events will be as followed:
08:45 Doors open for the press. Potential to photograph or film the dress while it is modeled by Jaylene Thyme.
09:00 Start of press breakfast. We will begin with some remarks, then there is a possibility to ask individual questions, take individual photographs or ask for quotes.
To sign up, please click the following link:
