By: Daniel Naffer

Call it an art project, or social commentary, or even a “photographical survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer individuals.” In essence, the mission of Queer Humanization Project is, as they state on their website, to simply “humanize the LGBT community by showcasing their diversity and individuality.”

Often times, the polarization of any sexuality that isn’t classified under heterosexuality can be misunderstood by those who are not acquainted with the LGBT community. Without recognizing, or blatantly ignoring, the LGBT, people can overlook the fact that just because you’re gay, bi, trans, or any combination thereof, that doesn’t mean you’re not a person.

In many cases, ignorance has led people to commit violent acts on those within the LGBT community and justify them by claiming they’re not actually people; it’s a pathetic excuse. Queer Humanization Project seeks to rectify that problem by artistically exploring the individual nature of the LGBT community.

The best way to describe it would be to say that it’s like a photography experiment. Anyone can upload a photo, along with a short sentence or two about yourself, and the creator of the project makes it into art. It’s as simple as that. Well, the effort to do it is simple, but the meaning behind it is imaginably a little more complex.

The images are of people within the LGBT community who have been called many hateful names. There’s a dichotomy. On one side is the participant’s face with tape photoshopped across them with a hateful slur, while on the other side of the image is a one to two sentence statement the participant sent in. Combined, it makes a powerful impact.

The tape, on the left hand of the images, represents the silence and repression of the LGBT community, and how ignorance is born out of it. While, conversely, with their mouths untapped or unrestrained by the constriction of silence, we come to acknowledge the representational social commentary that reminds people how the LGBT community is made up of people, just like anyone else.

For more information about Queer Humanization Project, click here.