MUSINGSON A
FLORALTRIBUTEPaul Harfleet

atMUSINGSON A
FLORALTRIBUTEPaul Harfleet

Since my visit I’ve been pondering the significanceof this installation and how my little idea toplant pansies at sites of homophobia, born inManchester almost twenty years ago has managed
to unfurl itself in many different ways around theworld.

I’ve just returned from a weekend in Manchester, the spiritualhome of The Pansy Project and the place that formed theartist I have become. One of the many highlights of my trip
was visiting the Pansy Dress designed by Liquorice Blackand worn by Cheddar Gorgeous on Ru Paul’s Drag Race
UK in 2022. The dress lent by Cheddar to the Manchester
Art Gallery forms ‘Slow Looking’ an installation that invites
viewers to contemplate the beauty and meaning of the outfit
before them.
I was struck when I walked into the gallery to observe
participants sketching and chatting about the dress, I
overheard people recognising the context of the model andconcept behind this spectacular garment. The text panel
invites the viewer to admire and examine the dress and neatly
explains The Pansy Project to gallery visitors. I remained
anonymous, a spy on these live reactions and witness to theoccasional drawings that have been left on the surrounding
easels creating a fascinating conversational archive.

“It’s about time we went gay bashing again, isn’t it?” Grosvenor Street, Manchester. Amongst the first round of plantings made in 2005.

What follows are musings on how my own
history, education and origin of The Pansy Project
may enrich the experience of this very queer
installation.

The Pansy Dress by Liquorice Black at Manchester
Art Gallery.

Coco & Christine at C&A, a mezzanine bar hosted by Coco& Angel at Atheneum in the early nineties.

My history with Manchester goes way back to the nineties, I too was a drag queen, part of drag duo Angel &Coco ( I was Coco LaVerne), we were somewhat known on the scene. Long before the perils of social media,
we sashayed the streets of the city from one bar to another, paid to adorn disco doorway and dance-floor alike.
As Ru Paul’s international star was rising we had become a dynamic drag duo of Manchester, also choosing asuper-model aesthetic. We turned away from misogyny and embraced the beauty of femininity and celebrated
it for all to see.
We weren’t lip-synching or completing sewing challenges, these were the days before the Americanisation ofdrag. We were hosts, models and ‘dancers’ (Angel was a trained dancer, I was not). Later we began to grace local
and then national TV screens, we featured in a few pop videos and even made a TV pilot or two. In London
in the mid-nineties we met Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the future producers of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, wefilmed a pilot and got dangerously close to becoming regular TV ‘stars’.

Angel (left) Coco (right) fromthe Respect Model Agency Catalogue.

Coco LaVerne late nineties. Photo: Jon Shard.

After five hilarious and tumultuous years in heals we went
our separate ways, Angel was to become trans trailblazer
Kate O’Donnell. I chose to go to art school, where I would
attempt to unpick the complexities of what I had learnt
about my identity.
I began with an art foundation course, where I began
to process years of drag with pop art inspired self
portraiture. Somehow this evolved into a painting degree
where I discovered an interest in landscape and explored
Manchester skies with oil paint, these evolved into small
abstract paintings with Technicolor edges.

MMU student card, September 1998

When an external examiner interviewed me about myjewel like paintings they astutely compared my blendingof paint to the blending of make-up. I had inadvertently
been using my drag skills on canvas, my painting processechoed the method of sculpting my face with paint, colourand light.
An early painting by Paul Harfleet 1999.

Degree show at MMU 2001

“Untitled” (billboard of an empty bed) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, 1991, via The Museum of Modern Art, New
York: https://www.thecollector.com/felix-gonzalez-torres-haunting-works-aids-artist/

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers), 1991. Image from Moma.

I realise I had spent four years attempting to remove the queerness from my work. On reflection during mydegree I was being led away from fully exploring sexuality and gender in my work, whether this was deliberateor just a reflection of the time, I doubt I’ll ever know. Internalised homophobia may have led me to believethat work exploring that part of me would not be taken seriously. The process of unpicking such complexitiescontinues.
After a year away from studying and reflecting on what I’d learnt I returned to the art school to embark on
an MA in fine art, there I jumped into the deconstruction of my painting practice. I explored the politics ofmy history, work and my queer beginnings, this laid the foundations for the work I make now. It was during
my MA that I developed the confidence to explore the artists that spoke directly to my sexuality and gender. I
was inspired by the likes of Rebecca Horn, Derek Jarman and Felix Gonzales-Torres. I was beginning to lean
towards making art in the real world with a conceptual tilt. This work had a neatness that satisfied a need in me
for efficient and pleasing ideas with a powerful message that was more immediate than painting.
Post MA, I began making work that focused on found urban relationships that appeared on the street, sometimes
absurd, sometimes dark and disturbing. It was in this context and at this particular time that I experiencedthree separate incidences of homophobia in one day, these incidences inspired a creative response and so began
The Pansy Project. For the interested in 2020 I was interviewed by Joey Orr for The Journal of Nature in VisualCulture, the interview delves deep into my thinking and the history of the project and is available to download
for free here.
Paul Harfleet, ‘Cyclists Dismount’ 2005. Made for an exhibition at Apartment, an artist-led space run fromhis flat in central Manchester 2004-2009 with artist Hilary Jack: Apartment

Above and right ‘Pansy!’ Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester 2005.

One of the first things I did in 2005 in those early days of The Pansy Project was to reach out to Queer Up
North, the queer arts festival that introduced international queer art to Manchester and supported many of
my contemporaries in the nineties. After a break the festival was making a welcome return to Manchester inthe early noughties. To my surprise they embraced The Pansy Project and with the help of many of the team,including the wonderful Jan Bradley I began to see the potential of this tiny idea.
Before I knew it there were 2000 pansies being planted in a nursery in Manchester that were due to becomea series of installations and interventions. One of those installations at the Manchester Art Gallery coincidedwith ‘Art of The Garden’, an exhibition that included the work of Derek Jarman. I was thrilled at the prospect tohave any association with one of my art heroes.
I would arrive at the decision of placing 2000 pansies around an architectural detail of the building, thiswould become ‘Pansy!’ An installation designed to speak of the potential these pansies had to mark sites ofhomophobia across the city. During an event these pansies would be distributed to willing participants, theywould go on to mark their own locations of homophobia. I was overwhelmed by the emotion of the response,
it took me some time to process what this project could mean.
There seemed to be an appetite to create an ongoing ‘Pansy Day’ or even a global charity, at the time, thisdidn’t seem quite right. Over the years I’ve realised that my interest lies in the ritual of planting and the little
conversations they inspire. I’m drawn to the visual contrast between the image of the pansy nestling in anurban scene with the often brutal text description of the abuse experienced at each location. The idiosyncrasies
of homophobia and transphobia around the world continues to interest me, even if the plantings have subsided
slightly since my work has taken a turn towards natural history and once again, dressing up - see page 19.
Over the years I have had the good fortune to be invited to contribute to various festivals, publications andexhibitions around the world and have made work designed to promote the idea that conceptually protects
those that are attacked on our streets. The absurdity of The Pansy Project remains, alas it’s relevance continues
as homophobia and transphobia goes on and on.

A small selection of plantings madearound the world including Paris,Geneva, London, Washington D.C.
Ottawa and Bristol.

“Y’a pas d’ovules dans les testicules”,
Tour Effiel, Paris, 2015.

“Don’t come out here, this place ishomophobic” United Nations, Geneva.
2016“Uppity Faggot!”
King Street, London, 2017.

“For Tyli’a ‘Nana Boo’ Mack” Stabbedto death. 200 block of Q Street, N.W.
Washington D.C. 2018

“Nice shoes!” For Alain Brosseau.
Alexandra Bridge, Ottawa. 2019.

“Jesus Loves Sinners!”
Wine Street, Bristol. 2021.

On a pansy planting tour in 2012 at Truth is Concrete, Graz Austria.

As The Pansy Project has evolved I have hosted occasional planting tours to plant pansies with thecommunities I visit. Despite the purpose and motivation of the plantings we are able to create moments ofjoy and connection as we walk. The absurdity of the planting process creates lightness and some frivolity,
whilst sharing in our gentle defiance we are able to process some of the horror that the pansies mark. The
tours become part performance, part community activism and even in the pouring rain can spark interesting
conversations about how we navigate our sometimes hostile streets.
Documenting a planting in Lawrence, Kansas in association with Spencer Museum of Art in 2018: Photo: Nick Krug

“Pervert!” – Thrown sandwich and attack, Piccadilly, Manchester“We’re gonna bash you up,!” Bloom Street, Manchester

It was ten years ago that I met Cheddar Gorgeousand Anna Phylactic with Kate O’Donnell (onceAngel), we connected, chatted and laughed about
our shared drag experiences. It was later thatnight as we walked through Manchester that wewere attacked, homophobia once again appearedin front of me - and us. We were united in ouranger and thankfully despite our attackers efforts
avoided physical harm. At that moment it was ourshared trauma that connected us, together we sat
and reflected on our continuing battles.
I vowed to plant a pansy at the site the next day,it’s this that Cheddar refers to in their Drag Raceappearance. On that same night in Manchester,
Liquorice Black also received abuse outside
Napoleons, so I planted there too, on Bloom
Street.
Documenting a pansy planting in Brussels, in 2014. Photo: Wen-Chi Su.

Years later, like so many, I was charmed by Cheddar Gorgeous when they appeared on Ru Paul’s Drag Race
UK, I was cheering from the sidelines and revelling in their successes. I happened to be watching live withfriends when they wore the dress inspired by The Pansy Project. I had absolutely no idea it was coming so it
was a complete and utter surprise, I was moved that Cheddar had chosen to use their platform so generously
and touched when I discovered the dress was made by Liquorice Black. A wave of social media attention
followed and I was amazed.
I’d seen the dress online but seeing it in real life had a huge impact on me, the detail of the construction
was surprisingly moving, the conversations and reflections in the gallery echoed my own planting tours.
Manchester was where The Pansy Project was born, the gallery was where I had first showcased the project,
this overlaying of memory, place and meaning speaks to the nature of The Pansy Project. The idea of ‘Slow
Looking’ that Manchester Art Gallery presents in this context asks the viewer to meditate on this garment,
its meaning, the nature of drag and costume and to consider what work the outfit celebrates. It really is aremarkable tribute, not only to my own little project but to the nature of queer community and how ourconnections are formed and retained.

Portrait of Paul Harfleet. Photograph by Malc Stone

Dickens & Jones Logo, artist unknown.

Visually the look was ringing a little aesthetic bell and finally it came to me, the logo (above right) forDickens & Jones, a department store that I used to visit as a little queer child in Richmond. At five or six
I remember adoring the simple elegance and drama of this illustration, the floral/human hybrid seems
especially significant in light of the dress and how Cheddar embodies it, another visual connection reaching
through decades.
I’ve explored my own relationship with the pansy visually over the years, the above portrait by Manchester
based photographer Malc Stone, was a collaboration made in 2010, the pansy in the mouth was his idea, wediscussed some of the finer details and opted for this simple look, it became the basis for an alternative wayof protest. The idea was that the pansy in the mouth would prevent words of homophobia or transphobia
passing the lips, alternatively a digital pansy could be ‘placed’ in the mouth of a transgressor as a commenton social media, calling out the ‘model’s’ homophobia or hatred. The idea was less neat perhaps, though it
did become a feature in a documentary film made about The Pansy Project in France in 2015. I’ve duplicatedthe portrait myself over the years to keep the look up to date. It was touching to see this method used inCheddar’s look for Drag Race and highlights the thoughtfulness and attention to detail of the styling.

Cheddar Gorgeous on the main stage of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK.

I’ve now planted more than 300 pansies around theworld which can be explored on The Pansy Project
map. My work continues to be featured in various
contexts, in 2023 my work was in Queer Nature anexhibition at Kew Gardens, in the summer of 2024
I was included in Rebel Garden an exhibition atthe Bruges Triennial, once again shown alongsideDerek Jarman.

Cock-of-the-rock, illustration and gentle reference.
Second Prize winner of the Madame F Queer Britain
Art Award in 2022. Part of Queer Britain’s permanentcollection.

An image of The Pansy Project Map.

Installation of Rebel Garden, Bruges Triennial 2024.

In a relatively new project I’ve made an unexpected
return to the world of dressing up and ‘drag’. The
body of work I call Birds Can Fly combines myrather traditional natural history illustrations withso called ‘Gentle References’ these are intended
to explore the history of ornithology through aqueer lens, each work highlights and echoes thephysical qualities of my subjects through costume,prop-making and make-up, the finished work
illustrates a blog where I present my research into
the sometimes troubling history of ornithology
and natural history.
And so my own new era of something resemblingdrag intersects with Cheddar. They use their profile
to promote ideas beyond their costumes as do I. In
reflecting on both my own journey and Cheddar
Gorgeous’s work, it becomes clear how draghas continued to evolve into a powerful tool for
activism, allowing us to challenge not only societal
norms but also raise awareness for broader causes.
Through The Pansy Project, my activism beganwith a focus on reclaiming spaces and confronting
homophobia. My renewed interest in dressing up
has been inspired not only by my own past as aprofessional drag queen but by a new generation ofdrag queens that embrace the benefits of their TV
profiles and social media following.

Cheddar’s reference to my work through theirdrag demonstrates our shared belief that drag canboth entertain and provoke thought, sparking
conversations about our relationship with each otherand the environment. By using costume as a vehicle
for these messages, we attempt to create spacesthat are not just visually interesting but also deeply
reflective—reminding us that activism can takemany forms.
Together, through our respective practices, we
continue to blur the lines between drag, art, identity,
and activism, reinforcing the importance of queer
voices in shaping a more compassionate and aware
world. I’m incredibly grateful to Cheddar Gorgeous,Liquorice Black and Manchester Art Gallery for
acknowledging my contribution to the conversationand for sparking this moment of reflection.

“Don’t ask that guy – he wants to hang them all!” – President Trumpcomments on Vice Presidents views on gay rights. White House,Washington D.C. 2019.

The Pansy Dress is on show at theManchester Art Gallery until November 2025.
Follow Cheddar Gorgeous.
Follow Liquorice Black.
More on The Pansy Project:thepansyproject.com
More about Birds Can Fly:birdscanflystore.com
More on Felix Gonzales-Torres:https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1119

Above, a sketch of the Pansy Dress from the installationof ‘Slow Looking’ at Manchester Art Gallery.