The IDENTITY Project – A Portrait of a Community, by award-winning photographer Chris Jepson, is an exploration of what it means to identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community today.
At the invitation of Espace Canopy, a gallery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, I set up a studio for 1 week in early 2022 and invited the LGBTQ+ community to drop in, share their stories and have a portrait taken.
A few weeks later I returned to the gallery to launch an exhibition for Pride month and show the new work alongside some of the existing portraits from other places.
Homophobic and transphobic hate crime continues to be a blight in our society. Hate is often motivated by the unknown, and by displaying this exhibition, the project will help improve community cohesion through making visible the depth and similarities in the identities we share.
