Street artist aims to promote LGBTQIA+ emancipation with Amsterdam mural of kissing men
Internationally renowned Amsterdam street artist Judith de Leeuw has created her fifth mural in the Dutch capital. Titled Behind the Rainbow, the 13.5-meter high mural of two kissing men in the heart of Amsterdam is aimed at encouraging the acceptance of LGBTQIA+ love.
The mural is painted on the corner of the Vijzelgracht and the Weteringschans. According to De Leeuw, it took her a surprising amount of effort to find a space for it. “They say that Amsterdam is the LGBT+ capital of the world and that everyone can be themselves here, but that’s not true. I went through dozens of walls. Those owners all wanted an artwork from me, but not kissing men. A man kissing a woman would have been fine,” the artist said in a press release.
She hopes that making two men kissing each other part of Amsterdam’s street scene will help get rid of the aversion to homosexual love. “We want the young homosexual generation to be able to walk past the wall and say: ‘This is me. I exist and I am allowed to exist. Also on the street.”
De Leeuw used AI to help design the mural, making it the first AI mural in the Netherlands. She used an algorithm to create fictional portraits from a huge amount of photos of homosexual men, which form the background of the kissing couple. She then painted the entire artwork on the wall herself.
The two kissing men in the mural are real. One is a local who sometimes gets insulted when walking down the street with his boyfriend. “People need to start seeing this as normal. It is about the love between two people. You can only celebrate that, right?” he said. “Everyone has the right to be themselves and find love. Hate and discrimination only destroy yourself and others.”
De Leeuw’s future artworks will also draw attention to other groups within the LGBTQIA+ community.
