LONG BEACH, Calif. - Long Beach Pride is one of the largest and longest running gay pride festivals in the country, with attendance in the tens of thousands. Artist duo Chiachio & Giannone are visiting from Argentina and they’ll be experiencing it for the first time where they plan to unveil a pride flag 30 ft wide by 112 ft long, the largest pride flag ever made.

“And this will be the first possibility to participate in the Pride Parade here,” said Giannone. “For us, it is very important because we work all this time with the community. This our flag represent the voice of all the community here.”

Making the flag has been a community effort. Collecting textile donations from cities around the world, they invited over 3000 individuals to add their voices on individual pieces of fabric. 

A massive collaboration, it took over sixty days and 500 hours to complete. For Chiachio and Giannone, their work using everyday materials combined with domestic techniques speaks to their message of belonging.

“All of us are different, but we need to have the same right,” said Chiachio. “For that we are here to make this exhibition to have the same right. Don’t care if you are gay, lesbian, trans. I want to have the same right like you.”

This year, the Pride Parade commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and though gay rights have come a long way in Long Beach, activists and artists like Chiachio and Giannone are still fighting and waving their flag loud and proud.