A project about redefining what exactly portrait is.
I interviewed four different queer youths about their experiences growing up, and how they feel navigating LGBTQ spaces on and offline. From these interviews, I created a "portrait" of each interviewee that I felt encapsulated their essence as a person, and their words on the subjects we discussed.
Does a portrait have to be of a person's physical form for it to be recognizable as them? How much can you infer from image alone? Those were the questions I wanted to explore as well as amplify the voices and stories of queer people around me.
Done in 2019.
Software:
Photoshop, Paint Tool SAI
"Natasha - she/her"
I would love to be able to hang out with people more. I would love to be able to actually go and meet them and go out, and go to a restaurant, something like that, and just chat. I feel like that's harder in an online setting for obvious reasons.
A lot of my friends were very affectionate people online, so they would always do the role-playing things like, “Oh, I’m here for you. I’ll cuddle you.” Those kinds of things, and I kind of wished I could have experienced that in person.
"Anisa - any pronouns"
I think my first fandom fandom where I was actually invested in everything was Orphan Black and that was because there was an open queer character and the writing behind it wasn't cheesy or corny like Degrassi could be. I would just read a lot and replay gifs all the time and it just gave me an opportunity to be like, “This is queer love, and it's open, and people support it, and that's so exciting.” That’s kind of why I was even trying to get involved in the first place.
"Red - they/them"
I feel like GSAs tend to have a lot of people who are like, “Ah, I’m asexual and so I’m the most important,” or like, “I’m straight and you should be thankful for me that I’m accepting of the gays,” and I think that's made me feel unsafe in GSA spaces before. I didn't really feel like it was really for LGBT people.
"Wren - any pronouns"
You know those Tumblr posts that are like, “We should have like gay bookstores.” It’s a really really nice thought to have, like here’s a safe space to chill out with other gays and other LGBT people. It’s nice to have that.