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Introducing the new arts & culture publication from Brooklyn’s hottest queer bar, ANIMAL. A venue for reflection, creativity & celebration, ANIMAL PRINT is a conversation between generations, honoring LGBTQ+ pioneers who paved the way, while providing contemporary perspectives on our modern experience, with notable voices such as Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham, NYC icon Stanley Stellar, Paul Sepuya, Jess Ceuvas, sam sax and other pivotal contemporary voices.
The stories in ANIMAL PRINT ground us in the present while honoring the past. They show us that queer culture is not a monolith, it’s a constellation of experiences, each one illuminating something different but equally vital.
On the cover is an image by Stanley Stellar, a living legend who captured the queer spirit of the ‘80s in stark, defiant beauty. The photograph of “Animal David,” taken on Christopher Street in 1981, is raw and unapologetic. David’s stance – proud, bold – is a reminder of a time when simply existing as a queer person was an act of rebellion. That image, like much of Stanley’s work, dares us to see each other clearly and fully. It dares us to exalt each other.
The assignment was to super serve our queer community, and to create a modern canvas for connection, much like the bar itself. ANIMAL PRINT is a stage where our particular culture performs its many acts: art, activism, sex and the sharing of deeply personal stories that define & redefine us. It’s where generations collide. Because, while we’ve come a long way – legally, culturally, linguistically – there’s a chasm in our community that can’t be ignored.
This divide isn’t just about age. It’s about experience. On one side, there’s the generation that lived through the AIDS crisis, a tsunami that drowned an entire world of potential. They lost a roadmap for growing older, and for sharing the wisdom & experience that comes with it.
On the other side, there’s the younger generation. They grew up with Will & Grace reruns, same-sex marriage as a reality and PrEP available before their first serious relationship. They didn’t have to march for the right to simply be seen. They inherited a world without knowing what was lost to build it.
ANIMAL PRINT is a bridge. A way to bring generations together in a single conversation about who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going.
The magazine was recieved by our community with generous praise -- just ask anybody who was at the launch party. It was a riot.
Framed copies hang on the walls of queer people across Brooklyn and beyond.
The next issue is in the works and submissions are coming in hot.
ANIMAL PRINT has become a new vessel for celerbrating queer excellence in a world that is increasingly unwilling to see it. Our magazine stands in defiance.
What makes this project special isn’t just the content, it’s the format. Like the bars and zines of the ‘80s & ‘90s, it is tactile, physical. It’s something you can hold in your hands. In a world where algorithms dictate so much of what we see, ANIMAL PRINT refuses to play by those rules. It’s analog in its rejection, creating a forum of expression that’s free from digital policing.
When LGBTQ+ rights are under attack in so many places, a project like this becomes essential. For all the progress we’ve made, our community is still writing & rewriting a unique queer blueprint for living, for aging, for dying.
With ANIMAL PRINT, we set out to leap these gaps, to encourage our queer brothers, sisters, partners, friends & lovers to believe that we are – every single one of us – stronger, happier and more authentically ourselves when we are connected. It’s a reminder of our resilience, our creativity, our power. It’s a way to say (if only to one another): all we really need is each other.
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The Print Awards 2025 Citizen Design
