The Rainbow Flag ‘designed’ by Gilbert Baker
Added knowledge: A flag with a seven-striped rainbow design is used in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador is anachronically associated with Tawantin Suyu, or Inca territory. Even today in the city of Cusco, Peru it is common to see the flag around the city displayed even in government buildings and in Cusco main square. The flag is inspired on the wiphala which was part of Inca symbolism and used in the Tahuantinsuyo and traces its existence to the early 1920s.
Gilbert Baker, the man who came up with the Rainbow flag in1978 has passed away
Thursday night (March 30, 2017). He was 65. “Discussing his design at a 2015 exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art, Baker said: “I decided that we should have a flag; that a flag fit us as a symbol, that we are a people – a tribe, if you will. And flags are about proclaiming power, so it’s very appropriate. Baker’s design placed meaning on each colour: Pink (sexuality), Red (life), Orange (healing), Yellow (sunlight), Green (nature), Turquoise (art), Indigo (harmony) and Violet (human spirit). It has since been reduced to six colours, with pink and indigo removed. Blue is now used instead of turquoise.” (Read more at nme.com)
(credits: Getty Images via nme.com)
The iconic Rainbow flag, which has been created to unite the gay community, fits perfectly In the series ‘Yes, that has been designed by a person’. Sometimes, with too uber-familiar symbols, you forget that there actually was a person who designed it. Just like the designers of, for example, the smiley or the peace-sign they often stay nameless. Hence this post.
Have a nice day! xoxo Mimi