Created during Pride events in Columbia and St. Louis, Missouri, United States, this photo essay pairs each portrait with a handwritten note reflecting on what sustains, protects, or grounds the person portrayed. Together, the images and notes form a record of endurance, intimacy, and belonging across two Midwestern communities.
For many queer people, public space remains unpredictable. During Pride, those spaces briefly become environments where one can stand without disguise. The series grounds theories of affirmation and visibility in lived experience, tracing how strength emerges through presence and mutual care.
Each photograph documents celebration and the ongoing work of survival. To stand at Pride, to be seen, to write one’s truth—these are acts of resilience against erasure, showing queerness as collective, political, and tender.
