Proud Brighton – WE ARE COMMUNITY
A portrait exhibition marking 35 years of Pride in Brighton & Hove
Proud Studios CIC and Brighton Pride CIC are excited to present Proud Brighton – We Are Community, a portrait photography exhibition celebrating 35 years of Pride in Brighton & Hove, at Jubilee Library, Brighton, from 27 July to 15 August 2026.
Commissioned by Brighton Pride CIC, the project is part of United in Pride, a joint initiative bringing together Brighton & Hove Pride, Trans Pride Brighton and Brighton Bear Weekend. The exhibition features portraits of people drawn from all three communities, each accompanied by a single sentence about what Pride means to them, reflecting Pride as it is actually lived across the city.
The series was conceived and photographed by Chris Jepson, award-winning community photographer and founder of Proud Studios CIC and features long-timers and first-timers, performers and volunteers, organisers and attendees. The portraits set out to capture the full range of Pride in Brighton & Hove, with particular attention to voices and faces that are often absent from Pride photography, including older community members, disabled LGBTQIA+ people, people of colour, and trans and non-binary people.
Chris Jepson said: “This project continues my long-term commitment to photographing LGBTQIA+ lives. For over thirty years, my work has centred on visibility, authorship and who gets to be seen. One of the things I care most about is removing the gatekeeping of who appears in photography, allowing for a more democratic, community-led curation. Proud Brighton – We Are Community is a portrait exhibition marking the 35th anniversary of Brighton & Hove Pride. These portraits are a reminder that our community has never been a single story – and that Pride belongs to everyone who shows up.”
Exhibition: July/August 2026 – Jubilee Library Brighton and online.
