For my graduation project, I will create a photobook, portraying the characters of 5 special individuals.
My goal of this project is to celebrate the everyday lives of the people of lgbtq+, ordinary or not. In light of the limited media representation of the community, certain physical traits or mannerisms (eg. gay men are associated with fashion and effeminacy), and are often times overly misportrayed, resulting in stereotypes to form. These stereotypes causes people to generate false accusations, but more importantly a false image of each gender and sexual representation of the community. I hope to present a wide variety of portrayals through photography to prove that any sexual orientation or gender do not fall into categories of characteristics, and that specific characteristics on one person do not automatically make them a certain gender or sexual orientation. for example, an “effeminate" man could just as much be a cis male than a gay male. On top of the problem with the lack of media representation of the LGBTQ+ community, I believe that it is essential to provide the world with more varieties and perspectives.
Moreover, I would like to simply shed light to the amazing talent and beautiful people of the community.
Topic: a reaction to the lack of media representation of the LGBTQ+ community, and contribute different perspectives of the community through in dept photography projects. My goal of this project is to shed light to the different way of lives of the LGBTQ+ community.
Focus: To document the everyday life of people of the LGBTQ+ community through photography.
Process: Through variety of sources (fruits and suits, friends and acquaintances), I wish to find 5 or 6 willing subjects to do portrait photography and life photography sessions. for the portrait photography i would talk to the subject to ask for their preference as to what kind of image they wish for me to photograph (what kind of make up, atmosphere, outfits styles, background,,, etc), and for the photography session, I would like to photography them in their daily routine and lifestyle.
Product: Create a photography book of the compilation. The book will not reveal the sexual orientation or the gender of the subject unless the subject is open and more than comfortable to share, for "what sexual orientation or gender this person is" is not the focal point of this project, and putting labels on to each participant will only contribute to the generation of stereotypes. I hope to include some sort of dialogue from casual conversations or interviews as well.
The book will consist of one portrait photography session + one lifestyle photography session + interview dialogue for each subject.
This semester I had a test portrait photo session with Vick.
