Amsterdam Rainbow Dress

The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress is a living work of art and activism made from the national flags of countries where LGBTIQ+ people face criminalisation, including penalties of imprisonment, torture, or death. The dress is continually updated: when a country enacts LGBTIQ+ inclusive legislation, its flag is replaced with a rainbow flag. In this way, the work functions as a shifting visual map of legal change, inequality, and human rights progress.

In December 2018, the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress was presented in South Africa for the first time on the African continent, including at Constitution Hill on Human Rights Day and at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town. At Constitution Hill, it was documented in a multipart photographic series by Neo Ntsoma, featuring activist Yaya Mavundla wearing the dress in front of the Constitutional Court, developed in collaboration with the Dutch Embassy and South African partners.