Pride in Every Body

VISUAL ART

7 days ago

3 min read

By Nonbinarium

As a queer, non-binary artist based in Vienna, my work explores the diversity of queer identities and bodies through figurative painting and drawing. I create images that celebrate people who have historically been excluded, misrepresented or rendered invisible within art and society.

Rather than focusing solely on struggle, I am interested in portraying queer lives as complex, joyful, vulnerable and fully human. My paintings affirm that diversity is not an exception but an inherent part of humanity. They challenge cisheteronormative ideas about gender and bodies while inviting viewers to see queer existence with empathy and curiosity.

Many of my works are inspired by LGBTQIA+ pride flags, not simply as symbols, but as visual languages of visibility, community and belonging. Through portraiture and narrative, I seek to create spaces where different identities can be recognised, celebrated and remembered.

The following works reflect themes of identity, the body, resilience and belonging. They honour the richness of queer experience while advocating for a more inclusive understanding of what it means to be human.

A painting of a shirtless person seen from behind, standing at a window and looking out at rooftops under a blue sky. They wear underwear in the lesbian flag colours. Checked purple and orange curtains frame the window, and a small plant in a yellow pot sits on the sill.

Never Forget (2023)

A person stands by the window, wrapped in a quiet moment of reflection. Their underwear, painted in the colours of the lesbian flag, becomes a subtle yet unmistakable affirmation of identity. The work speaks about memory, resilience and the importance of never forgetting those who came before us, whose struggles made today's visibility possible. Even in solitude, queer identity remains present, intimate and enduring.

Oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cm

Non-binary Pride (2024)

A portrait celebrating non-binary identity through colour and expression. Rather than presenting gender as fixed, the work embraces individuality, visibility and the diversity of queer experience.

Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Trans Wings: A small dark figure seen from behind sits in a green field under a turquoise sky. Large butterfly wings in the blue, pink and white of the trans flag, decorated with beads and pearls, spread out from their back.

Trans Wings (2024)

A human figure merges with butterfly wings inspired by the colours of the transgender flag. The painting explores transformation, resilience and the freedom to live authentically.

Acrylic, freshwater and crystal-cut pearls, shell beads and sequins on canvas, 50 x 100 cm

Intersex Pride: A painting of a sleeping person with their arm raised above their head, partly covered by a blue blanket. Behind them is a yellow background with a purple ring, the intersex flag, and a red, purple and green pillow.

Intersex Pride (2024)

A tribute to intersex people and their place within the diversity of human bodies. Inspired by the colours of the intersex flag, the painting celebrates visibility, dignity and belonging while honouring a community that has too often been overlooked or misunderstood. It affirms that intersex people deserve recognition, respect and the freedom to exist without stigma.

Acrylic and oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm

Lesbian Cat: A painting of a grey and white cat with large green eyes stretching across the bare legs of a person lying in bed. The sheets are white and pink.

Lesbian Cat (2024)

A playful scene combining everyday life with lesbian pride. Through humour and warmth, the work celebrates queer community and challenges the idea that LGBTQIA+ lives must always be represented through struggle.

Acrylic and oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

Trans Body: A painting of a nude torso with raised arms, in pink with blue outlines against yellow, green and orange backgrounds. It shows breasts, defined abdominal muscles and a penis.

Trans Body (2025)

A figurative painting portraying a transgender body without idealisation or apology. The work affirms bodily diversity and challenges conventional expectations surrounding gender and anatomy.

Acrylic and oil on canvas, 70 x 30 cm

Already Born This Way: A painting of a nude person lying on their back in a dark room, with a small rainbow-coloured infant lying on their chest. A rainbow of light spreads behind the infant.

Already Born This Way (2025)

Queerness is not something we become—it is something we are born with. While the surrounding world, rendered in muted and darker tones, reflects the constraints of cisheteronormativity, the queer figures shine from the very beginning. The painting celebrates the innate diversity of human identity and the beauty of existing authentically.

Oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cm

Rain in Rainbow: A painting of a figure with arms raised, seen from behind and below, standing in the rain in a long skirt painted in rainbow stripes. The background is white with blue raindrops.

Rain in Rainbow (2025)

A symbolic landscape where rain and rainbow colours meet. The work speaks about hope, resilience and the persistence of queer existence despite adversity.

Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 cm

Bisexual Pride: An expressive painting of a nude figure seen from behind, sitting with their arms raised around their head. The background is split between pink on the left and blue on the right, with purple between them.

Bisexual Pride (2025)

A figurative work inspired by the colours of the bisexual flag. The painting celebrates bisexual visibility while rejecting stereotypes and binary understandings of attraction.

Acrylic on canvas, 90 x 70 cm

Queer, Yes: A painting of a sunny park with a Ferris wheel in the distance. Figures of different bodies and skin tones run, cycle, walk and sit, including a person in a wheelchair with a dog and a bicycle with a trans flag on its basket.

Queer, Yes (2025)

This work celebrates the diversity of bodies and identities, including both visible and invisible disabilities. Against the pressure to conform to narrow social norms, the painting embraces difference as something to be celebrated rather than corrected. The central figures give the work its title: the drag queen on the left signs ‘Queer’ in sign language, while the albino person on the right signs ‘Yes’, creating a joyful affirmation of queer existence.

Acrylic and markers on canvas, 70 x 100 cm

Nonbinarium (they/them) is a Spain-born visual artist based in Vienna, Austria. Their practice focuses primarily on painting and explores queer, trans and non-binary identities through figurative works rooted in lived experience. Their work celebrates diversity, visibility and belonging while challenging cisheteronormative ideas about gender, bodies and identity. They have exhibited internationally, including Art Has No Boundaries at The Last Abstraction Gallery and the XXV Exposición Internacional Museo Virtual MundoArti. Follow Nonbinarium on Instagram: @nonbinarium.art