Fine Art Portrait Series

THEATRE, QUEERED features two visible spectrums, the broad, vivid colors which LGBTQIA+ theatre artists embody, and the narrower palette others’ perceptions limit them to. These portraits, created in studio with adjustable RGB LED light panels, seek to showcase the theatre community’s reality of queerness and gender that is often underrepresented and misunderstood in the mainstream.

The theatre artists in this series choose their own portraits’ colors to portray exactly what their experiences are. They pose for two images, one that shows how they identify and visualize themselves, and one that shows how they feel they are perceived by others.

View both sets of portraits below, and click any image to view a full gallery of that individual artist. Shot in COVID-safe studio sessions from April-November 2021.

SUPPORTING THE LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY — With the initial release of the series online for Giving Tuesday 2021, free prints, pride flag buttons, and other merchandise were available to individuals who donated to any LGBTQIA+ organization or mutual aid fund. Joseph also personally offered free photo sessions to trans & non-binary theatre artists through January 2022.

A set of prints from the series were exhibited at the 2022 Cosmic Cherry Arts Festival hosted by Make/Shift and This is AKIN at Super Secret Arts in Brooklyn, NY. A portion of the proceeds from the festival were donated to trans education & legal defense funds.