Year 3 Fine Art || BA3b
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Interviews with the LGBTQ+ community
On my Instagram I did a callout for members of the LGBT community as I need models for a series of paintings I am working on. Along side this I did a casual interview and gave them a questionnaire to fill out with questions about themselves and their experience as a member of the community etc. I gave each person the option to stay anonymous if that was more comfortable for them as some people are not out about their sexuality or simply just like keeping that private.
It has been a very nice experience to share with these people as a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself and this is something I am definitely going to keep going moving forward and hopefully interview and photograph people of different ages.
My goal in each photoshoot was to try and capture that persons personality through the photographs, for example Joy is a dancer so I tried to take photos that demonstrated some of her skills as a dancer, Isaac likes fashion so I tried to show off his vibrant shirt, whereas Cydnee likes more alternative clothing etc.
The photos from the shoot can be seen in my Resolved Body of Practice.
RAJAN
What is your name and age?
Rajan, 22
Tell me about yourself. How do you identify? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, etc.
Gay
What are your pronouns?
He/Him
When did you first realise you weren’t straight and how did that make you feel? Because for me it was very confusing
From a young age, I always had an interest in things exclusively feminine and in comparison to other boys, acted effeminate. I have always been pretty grounded with who I am, however, fell prey to questioning my identity and sense of self when others would police my behaviour and actions.
How has your experience been as an LGBTQ+ individual?
Due to culture and religion, I faced a lot of internal conflicts. I am fortunate to have a supportive family, which is unfortunately rare when being from an ethnic background and being gay, bi, trans etc. Most negative experiences I have had have been from the LGBTQ+ community itself.
Have you ever experienced homophobia, transphobia, etc? You don’t have to answer or explain if you don’t want to. This is a safe space
The homophobia I have faced has been more ignorance and microaggressions.
CYDNEE
What is your name and age?
Cydnee Inmon, 21
Tell me about yourself. How do you identify? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, etc.
I consider myself asexual and aromantic, meaning I feel little to no sexual nor romantic attraction. I can still have strong feelings for people, but it stops at platonic attraction.
What are your pronouns?
She/her
When did you first realise you weren’t straight and how did that make you feel? Because for me it was very confusing
I never really considered myself straight. I didn’t really consider myself anything. I remember wishing I was queer because “they seem so cool”, lol. Eventually, when I was 12 or 13, my friends were drooling over Brenden Urie, and it seemed like such a strange concept to me, wanting to view someone sexually. I was on tumblr at the time so I started a deep dive and landed on asexual pretty quickly.
After that I started analyzing my romantic orientation, which was a bit more difficult. As I had never been attracted to anyone its difficult to figure out if you don’t feel that attraction, haven’t met anyone you like, rarely feel that attraction, and if so who with. I was also deconstructing what I’d been taught was normal (allonormativity/heteronormativity) and so I bounced around cupio and aro romantic.
I wasn’t really upset or confused with my own orientation, moreso the curiosity as to what all these “normal” people experienced. What is it like to be sexually attracted to someone? Romantically? What does that entail? Why are people so controlled by it? Etc.
Sorry for the paragraphs, if you need I can clarify terms.
How has your experience been as an LGBTQ+ individual?
It's been good relative to most people’s experiences. Other than my parents invalidating me without really realizing it, and my mom trying to out me to my whole catholic/Christian family, its been decent.
Pitfalls would be the discourse online about whether aces were queer enough to be queer, and generally feeling outed in online communities. Not much representation in media, I think its like 2 people now (woo!).
Positives would be the communities I did find, joined an ace friendly discord in 2016 where I met a lot of friends, most of whom I still talk to. I had 3 ace friends irl and ran a pride club in high school, in an effort to educate myself as possible and others in the school. My mom has been generally pretty accepting, I haven’t really experienced discrimination, as I’m not trying to balance relationships and my identity is pretty hidden.
Have you ever experienced homophobia, transphobia, etc? You don’t have to answer or explain if you don’t want to. This is a safe space
Nah, not really. My dad told two old gays in ny pride parade that I was a robot, but that’s about it.
Do you have any questions for me?
I missed talking about being queer, can we do it more often? Lol
Also, did you know about asexuality/aromanticism before I talked to you about it? Did you know about split orientations? Is there anything else you want to lean about in that area?
ISAAC
What is your name and age?
Isaac, 23
Tell me about yourself. How do you identify? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, etc.
I identify as a queer trans man!
What are your pronouns?
He/him, but self-defined queers can address me how ever
When did you first realise you weren’t straight and how did that make you feel? Because for me it was very confusing
I was pretty young when I realised I wasn’t straight, and it wasn’t really a problem for me until I got a little older and understood that that would impact my relationships with friends and family and how they saw me. At that point it felt very scary and confusing. I had to go through a process of reconciling my faith with who I was and I didn’t have any support around that: could I still be queer and a good person? All in all it was quite an isolating experience even though I grew up somewhere that’s considered very diverse. Even ten years ago the general attitudes to queerness were so different to what they are now. I didn’t see any readily available representation and I definitely didn’t know anybody who was out until much later.
How has your experience been as an LGBTQ+ individual?
I feel like there are multiple dimensions to the queer experience; how it is within yourself and how the world reacts to you. I find my queerness incredibly liberating. I love that I don’t have to colour inside the lines when it comes to my identity, I don’t have to conform to arbitrary rules that can make or unmake who I am, I’m lucky enough to be side by side with a community of people whose celebration in who they are is a revolution. On the flipside, external attitudes to queerness can be exhausting because there are a lot of people who have strong and often violent opinions toward your existence. These opinions don’t exist in a vacuum, they create the culture we live in, legislations that try to define the conditions of our survival, and how safe you’re allowed to feel where you live. The fact that it is common and considered a right to be able to debate whether a person is allowed their humanity makes you feel, sometimes, like it’s you against the world, but it’s important to me not to take that perspective. Queer people are the world. We are not strangers here.
Have you ever experienced homophobia, transphobia, etc? You don’t have to answer or explain if you don’t want to. This is a safe space
Yes! Growing up in London I experienced a lot of homophobia even when I wasn’t out. As a ‘visibly’ queer person, my performance of heteronormativity was lacklustre I guess. Coming to Norwich was a relief in a lot of big ways. I didn’t experience homophobia in the same way at all and I stopped feeling a need to ‘pass’ and though it was uncomfortable, confusing, and sometimes upsetting for cis culture, it largely wasn’t unsafe. As I got further into my transition and felt more comfortable to experiment with my gender expression though, I started to experience a lot of scary transphobic harassment. A lot of the times this was directed at me from people who had interpreted my expression of queerness as trans femininity. Suddenly a place that felt safe very quickly became unsafe. It was a real eye opener about how even as we make progress, the culture of misogynistic scapegoating doesn’t move an inch. It’s very important to me to be visible as a queer trans person because of these attitudes and to stand in solidarity. None of us are liberated until all of us are.
Do you have any questions for me?
What kind of impact has doing this project had on your relationship with your identity and/or community?
What expectations did you have when you were starting with this concept? Did the end results match up with them?
What was your favourite part of the process?
JOY
What is your name and age?
Joy 21
Tell me about yourself. How do you identify? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, etc.
I am bisexual/bi-curious. I probably wouldn't actually date a woman, but I find them attractive.
What are your pronouns?
She/her
When did you first realise you weren’t straight and how did that make you feel? Because for me it was very confusing
I think in highschool around year 8 or 9, my friend at the time was very open about their sexual orientation so I learned about that from them. I felt comfortable about my orientation because of my friends.
How has your experience been as an LGBTQ+ individual?
My experience as an LGBTQ+ person hasn't changed my life much as not many people ask about it. I've also been in a relationship since 2016, so I've never experienced anything other than a kiss with the same sex.
Have you ever experienced homophobia, transphobia, etc? You don’t have to answer or explain if you don’t want to. This is a safe space
No, I don't think I've experienced that.
DYLAN
What is your name and age?
Dylan, 21
Tell me about yourself. How do you identify? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, etc.
I identify as a gay man
What are your pronouns?
My pronouns are He/Him
When did you first realise you weren’t straight and how did that make you feel? Because for me it was very confusing
I realised I liked boys at a very early age. Maybe around year 6 (age 10/11) I thought a boy in my class was cute but I had grown up being taught a heteronormative way of life which I only realised wasn't for me when I started going through puberty and began to sexually mature. For me realising I was gay was very confusing as I had never met a gay person (queue my oldest brother coming out as gay and my little brother being bisexual). Anyways because I thought it was wrong for me to like guys I hid that part of myself for a very long time, about 8 years and at times it was very depressing. I always knew my family would accept it as they have always been very supportive even through our disagreements and I am very grateful for that. But for me it was more a battle within myself and not being able to accept my own sexuality because I wanted to be 'normal'. Through this journey I have came to realise that there is no such thing as 'normal'. Interviewing other people like me has also helped me find peace within myself and learn to accept my sexuality.
How has your experience been as an LGBTQ+ individual?
My experience overall has been quite positive, I have met some really amazing people in the community who I can never thank enough for what they have done. But even though the community is seemingly very positive and all sunshine and rainbows, there is still a lot of hate between groups.
Have you ever experienced homophobia, transphobia, etc? You don’t have to answer or explain if you don’t want to. This is a safe space
I wish I could say I haven't but yes... I have experienced homophobia. In school even though I wasn't out and it wasn't directed at me some kids would say awful things about gay people. Using the f slur as a joke. But where I have experienced the most homophobia is in the past 2 years. I have grown up in the rural northern county of Cumbria which is such a beautiful place but can be quite backwards as a large portion of the population are conservative farmers. I have been harrased, misgendered in a cruel way for having long hair and wearing makeup, called so many names/slurs even in the workplace. Most recently I was accused of having an STI I didn't have and then treated similarly to how gay men were treated during the HIV AIDS pandemic in the 1980's. I definitely used to conceal my sexuality a lot more but since being at uni I have felt much more comfortable being myself.
Van Gogh: The Immersive experience
Queer Britain
Colour Theory
Outpost Studios
Talkinn
Lecture Notes
Random notes/planning