Hi everyone last June 2021 I started the Pride Project. This experience was one of the most rewarding thing my art has brought me. If you are new I started the pride project to do some community work for a community that has welcomed me with open arms. During the pride project I share queer funding, interview queer people, and photograph/edit images of them. I share these images and stories with my following to create a more personal moment during a very personal month. This year I will be doing it again. I do all of this for free with my own time. I accept tips for my time, but do not expect them. If you are considering sharing a story about your life, I heavily hope you do. To apply for time please fill out the form below. You will also find past work from last years project. Past interviews can be found on @sophesmithblog. This year I am hoping to share them on my main personal account, since this is not just art but something deeply personal to me.
BELOW ARE LINKS TO DONATION FUNDINGS FOR LGBTQ+ PEOPLE IN NEED:
JUNE 2021 INTERVIEWS ON SOPHESMITHBLONG ON INSTA
For the last like six years I have been using the app VSCO. I have always done art heavily in photography/videography/and any fine art. In the last year or so VSCO has been republishing my work on the app and more recently their instagram. For pride month 2021 I was doing free shoots with local queer people to share their stories. I did this to give back to my community ( THE LGBTQ+ community).... but in turn got more love from vsco because I had been posting work to a pride challenge they had going on. Later into the month I received an email telling me I had won the challenge and also two tickets to playbills " Glimmer Of Light" which was playbills first LGBTQ+ in person event!!! I went to NYC and had the joy of shooting the event while also just enjoying it. I got to meet people like JAN sport from drag race, Dorinda Medley from NYC house wives, Legacy BQPC, Basit( Aka Basitcom), the neon coven, Travis from U.S daily, and more. This was by far the biggest thing to come from my photography and meeting people who have also inspired my work has absolutely changed my life so HUGE HUGE props to VSCO for pushing me!
What does pride mean to me? Pride to me is the lack of shame for being authentic and true. The pride project is intended to build up LGBTQ+ voices in small communities by photographing members for free and interviewing them about their identity and experiences centered around things like laws, religion, gender, race, and so much more . On my site there are go fund me pages centered around BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people in need. Allowing people to be not only seen but also heard at no cost. All in pursuit of helping members to have an outlet of expression, and to help the next generations vocalize who they are with self love and pride .The most major success I have seen comes in two categories. Personal joy and Public recognition. For me personal joy is what pushed me to continue my work. I have a friend who is trans but has never been allowed to express their gender identity prior to having a photoshoot with me, when we did have a shoot together I did their makeup and put a wig on them. When I finished shooting we both cried because they had never felt so confident before. Impact means everything. As for public recognition in June this project got recognized by Playbill and VSCO and I was invited to see and photograph Playbills ``Glimmer of Light '' (their first LGBTQ+ live show). I went to NYC and watched the show and met lots of people who work for the Born this way foundation. By far one of the most incredible experiences so far. A challenge I have been dealing with is homophobia because I do grow very deep connections to these people I am interviewing. The slander from strangers that I am presented with is disturbing but comes with the project. Taking things personally has become something I simply can't make room for. I do not take the hate and internalize anymore and instead all I can do is remind these people that I encourage them to read the interviews so they stop viewing these people as things to be fixed and seeing them as humans having a different experience as them... and obviously recommending other places for education on the LGBTQ+ experience because most of their hate is based off of religion or internalized issues from personal ignorance. I am only eighteen and also a BIPOC bisexual first generation first year college student and do not have extra funds to continue to do my work for free because I need to pay for my education and living. I love this project because I have been able to do it for free and provide some platform for other members.