skeiv nabofest
A cast of party guests for a queer neighbourhood festival in Paulus Kirke at Grünerløkka.
One big poster in digital formats and for printing, alongside figures that work on their own as well.
Where Freelance for Skeiv Nabofest, arranged by Løkka-bohémen and Paulus og Sofienberg parish as part of Paulusfestivalen, Oslo
When 2022
Team Solo
My role Concept and illustration
Result A modular illustration system used on posters and social media. The party filled Paulus church and made national news
The event
In September 2022, the arts collective Løkka-bohémen and the local parish threw a free queer street party in and around Paulus church at Grünerløkka: market, choir, drag, burlesque, slam poetry, heels dance and concerts, open to everyone. It was their contribution to Skeivt kulturår, Norway's national year of queer culture, and it happened three months after the Oslo Pride shooting. A church opening its doors to a party like this was not a given, which is exactly why it mattered.
The poster shows Paulus church with its recognisable red brick and green spire, but the blocks around it have turned pink and the neighbours have taken over the street!
One poster, many uses
Every character was drawn as a complete, standalone figure with a transparent background. The full scene went on the large posters, while the individual figures worked as loose pieces for everything else: dropped on top of photos in Instagram posts, dancing next to the text in an artist announcement, or climbing along the edge of a story.
A figure could introduce the act it loosely resembled, so the drag queen presents the drag show and the guitarist presents the band.
Instead of one locked poster scaled up and down, the event got a kit of parts that could be recombined for whatever needed announcing, and everything still looked cohesive.
The event ended up in the media when parts of the church community objected to drag and burlesque in a church room. The Bishop of Oslo publicly backed the festival. Hehe:)
