“In the midst of another wave of anti-queer hate, Canada’s LGBTQ+ community is stronger than ever. Art is a medium that transcends boundaries of all kinds. Pioneering queer self-expression and spreading AIDS awareness, General Idea changed the art scene in Canada. Their works are an inspiring testament to our brave history—an assurance that we will never lose our unconvential, bold creativity. Marcel Dot remains an icon as Miss General Idea 1971 and is the centerpiece—among other symbols—of my tribute to a more accepting future and a painful past. Our voices will be heard, and we will make the trailblazers who lit our way proud!”

–Theo Newbury (Grade 10, Mount Pearl Senior High School, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland)

The art collective General Idea (comprised of AA Bronson, Felix Partz, and Jorge Zontal) rose to prominence in the 1970s with their boundary-pushing performance, photography, and installation works critiquing everything from consumer culture and mass media to social inequality and the HIV/AIDS crisis.