Not on display

Progress Pride flag

Pride Flag
2020 (manufactured), 2018 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Daniel Quasar is a non-binary American artist and designer (pronouns: xe/xyr) based in Portland, Oregon. Xe studied graphic design at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland and hold a BFA in Communication Design. Xe also have a background in motion graphics and multimedia and often contributed to projects promoting or celebrating the endeavours of fellow LGBTQI+ community members. Quasar produced videos and animations for the 2016 RuPaul’s ‘Drag Race Battle of the Seasons’ and ‘Christmas Queens World Tours’ and developed stage animations for the 2017 ‘Ginger Snapped’ tour organised by Jinkx Monsoon, RuPaul’s Drag Race fifth season winner. Quasar’s most popular design to date is the design of the Progress pride flag.

The flag was designed in June 2018 to highlight and honour the presence of trans and BIPOC members of the LGBTQI+ community, and as a call for more diversity and inclusivity inside and outside of the community. The design is a reinterpretation of multiple iterations of the pride flag representing many identities that fall under the umbrella of the LGBTQI+ community.

The background features the 1979 rainbow flag by Gilbert Baker. It is composed of six horizontal stripes representing life (red), healing (orange), sunlight (yellow), nature (green), serenity (indigo) and spirit (violet). Superimposed on the background, an arrow composed of five coloured stripes points to the right to show forward movement and illustrates that progress in terms of inclusivity still needs to be made. The light blue, white and pink stripes refer to the 1999 transgender flag designed by Monica Helms, while the brown and black stripes represent marginalised POC communities in a similar fashion to the 2017 Philadelphia City Hall Pride flag and the 2018 Seattle Pride flag. In Quasar’s design, the black stripe has a double meaning as it is also intended for ‘those living with AIDS and the stigma and prejudice surrounding them, and those who have been lost to the disease’.

Widely adopted by the LGBTQI+ community, the flag was carried at numerous Pride events and raised to the top of the Seattle Space Needle for Pride 2020. It also appeared in drag TV contest RuPaul’s Drag Race in January 2021. Released under a Creative Commons licence, the Progress pride flag has become a blueprint design used by minorities feeling underrepresented within the LGBTQI+ community.

This flag was commissioned from the designer in 2020 and is a custom appliqué version of the flag xe first designed in 2018.

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read The Progress Pride flag The Progress Pride flag was developed in 2018 by non-binary American artist and designer Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns). Based on the iconic rainbow flag from 1978, the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community and calls for a more inclusive society. In 2020, the V...

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleProgress Pride flag (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
200 denier aniline-dyed nylon, nylon threading, canvas header, brass grommets
Brief description
Progress Pride flag, designed by Daniel Quasar, USA, 2018, manufactured by Art Schaller for Custom Flag Company Inc., Westminster, CO, USA, 2020, 200 denier aniline-dyed nylon, nylon threading, canvas header, brass grommets
Physical description
Flag made of 200 denier aniline-dyed nylon, the background made of six horizontal stripes and the foreground of 5 stripes arranged in a chevron pattern. Each coloured stripe is made of a different piece of dyed fabric. All parts are assembled with nylon threading. The flag hoist is made of canvas in which brass grommets are inserted, hence enabling the flag to be tied to a pole with a cord.
Dimensions
  • Height: 112cm
  • Width: 160cm
Gallery label
(June 2021)
A pride flag for the 21st century

In 2018, American graphic designer Daniel Quasar created ‘Progress’, an update of the rainbow Pride flag created by Gilbert Baker in 1979. The superimposed chevron design features the white, pink and blue stripes of the transgender flag and a brown stripe to represent people of colour within the LGBTQ+ community. The black stripe symbolises people living with or having died from AIDS.

Rainbow flag with chevron
‘Progress’, 2018 (manufactured 2020)
Designed by Daniel Quasar Manufactured by Art Schaller for Custom Flag Company, USA
Aniline-dyed nylon, nylon threading, canvas header and brass grommets
Museum no. NCOL.635-2020

This label was written for the Design 1900-Now Gallery, open in June 2021.
Summary
Daniel Quasar is a non-binary American artist and designer (pronouns: xe/xyr) based in Portland, Oregon. Xe studied graphic design at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland and hold a BFA in Communication Design. Xe also have a background in motion graphics and multimedia and often contributed to projects promoting or celebrating the endeavours of fellow LGBTQI+ community members. Quasar produced videos and animations for the 2016 RuPaul’s ‘Drag Race Battle of the Seasons’ and ‘Christmas Queens World Tours’ and developed stage animations for the 2017 ‘Ginger Snapped’ tour organised by Jinkx Monsoon, RuPaul’s Drag Race fifth season winner. Quasar’s most popular design to date is the design of the Progress pride flag.

The flag was designed in June 2018 to highlight and honour the presence of trans and BIPOC members of the LGBTQI+ community, and as a call for more diversity and inclusivity inside and outside of the community. The design is a reinterpretation of multiple iterations of the pride flag representing many identities that fall under the umbrella of the LGBTQI+ community.

The background features the 1979 rainbow flag by Gilbert Baker. It is composed of six horizontal stripes representing life (red), healing (orange), sunlight (yellow), nature (green), serenity (indigo) and spirit (violet). Superimposed on the background, an arrow composed of five coloured stripes points to the right to show forward movement and illustrates that progress in terms of inclusivity still needs to be made. The light blue, white and pink stripes refer to the 1999 transgender flag designed by Monica Helms, while the brown and black stripes represent marginalised POC communities in a similar fashion to the 2017 Philadelphia City Hall Pride flag and the 2018 Seattle Pride flag. In Quasar’s design, the black stripe has a double meaning as it is also intended for ‘those living with AIDS and the stigma and prejudice surrounding them, and those who have been lost to the disease’.

Widely adopted by the LGBTQI+ community, the flag was carried at numerous Pride events and raised to the top of the Seattle Space Needle for Pride 2020. It also appeared in drag TV contest RuPaul’s Drag Race in January 2021. Released under a Creative Commons licence, the Progress pride flag has become a blueprint design used by minorities feeling underrepresented within the LGBTQI+ community.

This flag was commissioned from the designer in 2020 and is a custom appliqué version of the flag xe first designed in 2018.
Associated object
Collection
Accession number
CD.14-2020

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Record createdNovember 30, 2020
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