SHOWCASING IMAGES OF DIVERSITY
Portraits Highlight the Variety of Black Gay Life and Put a Face on an Often-Invisible Group
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...Armed with a 35 mm camera and $4,000 of his own money, Gray responded with "We Are Here," a collection of images shot in natural light that broadens the definition of diversity within the black community.
Curator Bryant Johnson, Steelelife's owner, hung the photos at eye-level, putting the viewer face-to-face with the subject in silent conversation. There are poets, singers, educators, pastors, mothers, feminists and athletes. | |
"That is who we are up on that wall and it speaks power," said Sherri Jackson, a seminarian and political activist featured in the exhibit.
Rev. Juan Reed, vicar of St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Austin, hopes the exhibit sparks a conversation within the black community about sexual identity.
"Many people in our community hear about homosexuality primarily from the church, and it's usually condemnation," said Reed, who is also in the exhibit. "There's a gap in our community without these stories." |