THIS Brief was a task for University. The topic was Human Rights, we chose a Human Right we could relate to. My choice was Equality and Gay Rights. We then had to create a piece of work that related to the chosen right. I gathered some models who identified as LGBT and asked them a few questions about themselves and how they felt about Gay Rights, and what it meant to them. The models I chose were Madi, Jack, Hayley and Owen. The final pieces were then put up in Exhibition at University. Each image was contextualised with a quote underneath with the responses to the questions I had for them during the shoot.
This is Jack, a gay student at LSBU, when we were shooting, we had a talk about what it was like for him when he was growing up. ‘I think it was kind of growing up in a small town, it wasn’t tiny but it was small enough for people to be closed-minded. I don’t think that I can remember there was a day where I hadn’t been called ‘Gay’ or whatever, and then I moved to London, and it’s like nobody really cares at all.’
This is Madi, a Bisexual student at LSBU. Whilst we were shooting, I asked her how she had dealt with it and what her parents thought about her sexuality.
‘For me, it started out at a really confusing stage when I really didn’t know myself. I didn’t even know that being ‘bisexual’ was a thing. I just had so many confusing feelings around both guys and girls, and I didn’t really understand what was going through my mind. When I heard ‘Bisexual’ I felt kind of relieved- now I knew it wasn’t a mess up in my head, and I could actually put a name to it. Luckily, my parents are pretty laid back so they weren’t too bothered. Before I told them I was Bisexual, if I ever bought a boy home, they would say he had to stay in a separate room, but if I bought any girls back they didn’t care. Then when I came out to them, to be honest nothing really changed. My parents are very liberal people, even if my Dad was a bit funny to start with. But they pretty much just accepted me and I couldn’t be happier than the place I’m in now.’
This is Hayley, a lesbian student at LSBU. During this shoot I asked her how it had been for her.
‘I only really came out to my family and my friends pretty recently. My parents were perfectly fine with it. I think they already had the idea and had probably already accepted it. But they’ve been really supportive. Although, for my girlfriend [Rosie] it is a completely different story. Her parents had a lot of trouble accepting it, and it caused a lot of emotional distress for them all. I think they’re sort of okay with it now. But I’m pretty sure they don’t like it.’
This is Owen, a gay student at LSBU. I asked him how it had been for him growing up gay and what he thought about gay rights and what it meant to him.
‘It’s about equality. Being treated the same regardless of who we are. Everyone has the right to be themselves, so why should we be treated different?’
This is the Final Project up in Exhibition at London South Bank University
