If you’re trying to find your way to Oxford Street from Bondi Beach during Mardi Gras, you may be a little confused by the beachside sign suggesting 123 different routes to city. Instead of directing you the CBD’s Oxford Street, home of the Mardi Gras Parade and a much loved cultural and artistic hub for the queer community, the sign points to every Oxford Street around the country.
The installation, called Signs of Love, is part of a series of sculptures built around Australia’s many Oxford Street signs. If you take a nationwide road trip to regional towns, you’ll find a revamped signpost in each state, plus the extra Sydney sign. It’s an initiative organised by ANZ Bank, who have a 13-year association with Mardi Gras.
Photograph: Supplied
Its purpose is to transport the Mardi Gras celebrations and ethos beyond Sydney, saluting the LGBTQIA community and also ensuring the nation does more to promote safe and inclusive environments for queer and non-binary people. The project comes after the ANZ commissioned research into inclusion of LGBTQIA individuals in Australia, finding 81 per cent believe there are still parts of the country where it isn’t safe to openly identify as queer.
You can see the signs until Sunday, March 3.