Reframing Belonging Through Portraiture
A rapid-response photojournalism series centering LGBTQ faith leaders and challenging the presumed divide between queerness, spirituality, and belonging.
Overview
Created after the United Methodist Church voted to reinforce its rejection of LGBTQ people, Queer Faith responded to institutional harm by telling a different story.
Through portraits and first-person reflections, the project centered a vibrant community of queer people whose identities and faith informed one another.
Developed with 35 LGBTQ leaders, the series invited audiences to encounter faith, sexuality, pain, joy, ministry, and belonging in participants’ own words.
Role
Served as photographer and visual storyteller, working with participants to develop portraits and reflections that could hold personal vulnerability, theological complexity, and public advocacy.
The project paired documentary photography with participant-authored testimony, creating a rapid-response communications campaign, digital feature, permanent exhibition, and fundraising platform.
Led
Photographed and collaborated with 35 LGBTQ faith leaders and community members.
Developed a visual language that treated participants with dignity, intimacy, and agency.
Paired original portraiture with first-person reflections on identity, faith, and belonging.
Helped rapidly produce and publish the series in response to a major denominational decision.
Extended the work across web, social media, exhibition, and fundraising channels.
Outcomes
Generated 136,000 Campaign Impressions
Drove 15,000 Project Pageviews
Raised $18,000 for the Audre Lorde Project
Centered 35 LGBTQ Faith Leaders
Installed as a Permanent Union Seminary Exhibition
