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Artist and activist Denise R. Duarte is launching The Expressive Progressive Collection, an online store under D’Arte Designs. The store celebrates progressive values with items specifically designed for Feminist, LGBTQ+, and Pacifist issues.
The Expressive Progressive Collection amplifies voices and creative expression with custom and personalizable merchandise and gifts.
The Expressive Progressive Collection was born out of a desire to continue the quest of creating a society based on respect, acceptance, love, and dignity in a time where progressive values are under attack. The goal is to provide quality home furnishings and apparel that celebrate humanity and allow people to express their progressive values. Many items are created to be personalized and others can be personalized for a small additional fee. Merchandise includes everything from t-shirts, aprons, pet products to shower curtains. All designs are by Denise R. Duarte. Additional items are designed and added regularly. Each item is created for each customer on demand using her production partner, Printify.
The Expressive Progressive Collection will offer a 25% storewide sale through October 13. Shipping is included in all pricing. Sales are limited to the United States.
“I believe we can change the world with love and acceptance, especially now. We can break down barriers with understanding, compassion, empathy and dignity. Each person is unique and that is what makes humanity so beautiful. This store is proudly committed to progressive values and creating opportunities for expressing these values,” said Denise.
Celebrate Inclusion and Diversity with the full 11-color inclusive rainbow representing the entire LGBTQ+ Spectrum and POC. This gradient design references the flag created in 2017 in the City of Philadelphia and the Pride Progress Flag. The Pride Progress Flag, designed in 2018, added black, brown, light blue, pink, and white to depict the inclusion of LGBTQI+ and People of Color. It is designed into a triangle facing forward to represent progress.
The triangle is a powerful symbol to the Queer community and dates back to the holocaust with Paragraph 175, a clause in German law that prohibited same-sex relations. It was applied in two main categories.
The first category was for gay men forced to wear an inverted pink triangle.
The second was for Lesbians and all persons deemed asocial, which included sex workers, nomads, Romani, Transgender individuals, and other nonconformists. They were forced to wear the inverted black triangle.
It is estimated that 25,000 to 100,000 gay men were arrested, with 10,000 to 25,000 sent to the Nazi concentration camps. Many were tortured by sterilization and often by castration. In 1942, their punishment became death. Even after liberation, in West Germany, some gay men remained prisoners since Paragraph 175 was not fully repealed until 1994.
In 1984, during the AIDS crisis, the organization ACT UP, in its initial marketing materials, accidentally flipped the pink triangle so its point was up and added the phrase Silence = Death. This new triangle symbol became a significant element in the struggle for awareness of the AIDS epidemic.
The LGBTQ+ community has reclaimed these triangles as symbols celebrating the strength and resilience of the Queer community.
D’Arte Designs is your source for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer LGBTQ+, Feminist & Pacifist gifts! Check back often as they expand items to include more progressive issues in our offerings! Click here to find out more.
