Yahoo Finance This artist’s work has transformed the world into a giant pride parade
Instagram lets us travel the world virtually, squeal over adorable dogs, and drool over gorgeous brunch spreads. Every once in a while, we also find accounts that let us in on the crazy imaginations of others.
One such account: Ramzy Masri’s rainbow-filled feed. A senior Designer at Nickelodeon, Masri transforms some super-recognizable landmarks into colorful pieces. Sights like the Empire State Building in NYC and the Broad Museum in LA become eye-catching pieces completely transformed by Masri’s use of color.
“I started this series for NYC Gay Pride this year, as a way to commemorate Pride Week on my Instagram,” Masri tells HelloGiggles in an email. “I loved the idea of taking New York landmarks and reimagining them in rainbow regalia. I was so humbled by the response (and love editing the photos) that I’ve continued the project past Pride Week.”
Masri takes inspiration from the city, re-imagining buildings in a kaleidoscope of color while on his daily commute. Once he settles on a subject — from recognizable landmarks to stairways to floors — he takes a photograph and adds color with a digital tablet. For one particular piece, he digitally hand-colored ~every~ tile of a New York cafe floor.
“I love how the simple addition of color takes the stark, minimal floor to a unicorn, Lisa Frank place,” wrote Masri. “This kind of transformation makes me happy and is what motivates the time-consuming process.”
After Masri completes the process and uploads his photo, he offers NYC visitors and dwellers a different way of seeing the city. With more than 12,000 followers on Instagram, he’s sharing the idea that you can always see familiar sights through a different perspective.
“NYC is often criticized as a rude, lonely city with brash people, though I truly believe that any place is what you make of it and your perspective on the world is everything,” explained Masri. “There’s an inherent optimism in the work — it’s not over-intellectualized, it’s a simple way of looking at the world through rose —errr…rainbow— colored glasses.”
While at first glance the pieces might seem like they’re just about fun colors, he still stays close to his original intention with this project. He’s taking on an important stance with each brightly-colored, dazzling photo.
“My practice is about design activism,” Masri concluded. “I’m proudly gay and that absolutely plays into this series. It’s super fun to imagine the world as though every day were a giant pride parade. The LGBTQ community has been marginalized and discriminated against, and this is a way of reclaiming some of the world’s most recognizable monuments by homo-fying them.”
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