Local LGBTs and their supporters are wearing their hearts on their sleeves for a photography project that seeks to illustrate the faces and stories of the LGBT community.
In the past year, out photographer Tara Robertson has photographed 70 LGBTs and allies for “Our Alphabet” — a series that captures subjects in a plain white T-shirt emblazoned with a simple, yet personal and often powerful, message relating to their identities.
Robertson will be shooting each Saturday through the end of March at the University of the Arts and is aiming for at least 200 people to participate in the project.
The West Chester native began the series last year as her senior thesis for UArts but said it quickly became more than classwork.
“I started it because I felt like there were so many stories of people in the gay community that just weren’t being told,” she said. “And once I started, it just began building on itself and took on a life of its own.”
Local filmmaker Noah Stoner, who participated as a subject, began filming at last weekend’s shoot for a documentary he plans to make on the effort, Robertson said.
Robertson, 24, said word-of-mouth has been the biggest aid in locating interested subjects, who have trended on the younger side, although people of all ages, races, orientations and identities are welcome to participate.
Participants are asked to create a brief one-sentence statement, and they can either create the shirts themselves in advance or at the studio the day of the shoot.
“I tell people to really dig deep into their story and create a message that is really personal,” Robertson said. “People have written messages directly to their parents or in response to the general hatred they’ve seen in society.”
The messages range from thoughtful to hopeful to humorous to moving — such as one woman’s design that reads, “Mom, I’m not trying to punish you,” and a man’s statement to his father that says, “You couldn’t beat the gay out of me.”
Although LGBTs of all walks of life have posed for the project, straight allies have also turned out in force, Robertson said, such as an older man whose shirt reads, “Dad loves his lesbian.”
While Robertson hopes for the finished project to be shown in galleries, she said the impact of the photos can be felt no matter where they’re shown.
“I want this to be a part of the LGBT-rights movement as an outlet,” she said. “People need to have their voices heard and that’s what I want this to be, wherever it ends up going. This started out with me trying to help people to tell their stories and it’s just taken this turn where people are so thankful for having the chance to do that, which is motivating me to keep making this bigger.”
To learn more about the project and find out how to participate in upcoming shoots, which will be held from noon-3 p.m. Saturdays at UArts, visit http://ouralphabet.tumblr.com.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].