A rainbow star painted on the surface of the Turku Theatre Bridge, on the southwest coast of Finland, has been vandalised only hours after the artwork had been completed.
The rainbow star is Jan-Erik Andersson’s environmental artwork on the surface of the bridge was painted in rainbow colours on the night between Wednesday and Thursday this week. The rainbow work was designed by Andersson and painted by Turku-based graffiti artist Mr. Oddity.
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The work has apparently been burned with rubber from an electric kickboard, or by bikes and other tyres only hours after it had been completed.
This bridge was chosen for the rainbow star after a rainbow crossing in front of Turku City Thetre had to be painted over due to Police finding the rainbow-painted crossing to be in violation of the Road Traffic Act. This was similar to other road rainbows in Australia.
Initially, the city then wanted to paint the whole bridge in front of the theatre district in rainbow colours but this was technically too cumbersome and expensive to implement.
Andersson was then asked to create a large clearly defined star with all eight colours of the original rainbow flag.
The traditional and commonly used rainbow flag has six stripes, as two were left out right after the hand-made prototypes at the outset because they were too difficult to implement for mass production. The first version of the rainbow ticket is on display at a museum in San Francisco, where it was just returned. The first Pride ticket was missing for decades.
The stripes on the rainbow flag do not represent any sexual or gender identity, as the common misconception claims, but abstract things: Pink signifies sexuality, red life, orange healing, yellow sunlight, green nature, turquoise magic and art, blue serenity and harmony.
The starting point for all the activities of the City of Turku is non-discrimination and equal treatment, the city’s website states.
Last Updated on Jul 3, 2021
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