LGBTQ Photography Internship
In a partnership between ArtWorks and the LGBT Community Center, interns practice 21st century job skills such as collaboration, communication, and engagement by identifying LGBTQ portrait subjects in the community and creating a corresponding photography collection. The collection focuses on intersectionality and identity, bringing attention and awareness to the beauty of Milwaukee’s LGBTQ population.
The first half of this program consisted of introductory lessons in photography, skill development, and SEL. The cohort of four unpaid interns worked with their lead artist, Dominic Inouye, to recruit models and prepare for shooting the photography collection. During the second half of the program, interns became paid interns and shot their photography collection, and learned how to develop an art exhibition, promote their work, and host a photography exhibition for Gallery Night & Day.
“I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process – an integral function of the universe.
~ Buckminster Fuller”
What have we accomplished so far?
Please enjoy our galleries that represent the work we were able to accomplish before the quarantine made us change directions temporarily. Unedited selections from each of our photo shoots are housed in our RAW gallery, a hint of what’s to come for the eventual exhibit at the LGBT Community Center. We’ve also opened up our sketchbooks in a special SKETCH gallery, sharing with you the space where we reflected on our personal identity journeys and designed our photo shoots.
How can I get involved during the quarantine?
We want to add your beautiful faces to our online collection!
Think about your own “verbs,” those actions or becomings that describe your personal identity journey as an LGBTQ+ individual. Then take a selfie or have someone in your household take a photograph that captures you and your verb. You can pull out your expensive Canon or Nikon--or just use your phone!
Get creative! Get expressive! We know that there’s an abundance of both out there, Milwaukee!
Once we receive your submissions, they can all be enjoyed in our SHARED gallery.
our mission & vision
As ArtWorks for Milwaukee interns serving the LGBT Community Center and yearning for a world that acknowledges everyone’s uniqueness, we will use photography and other art forms to narrate, celebrate, and educate the community about the intersectionalities of LGBTQ identities with which many Milwaukeeans “verb” their lives. Inspired primarily by verbs of movement and energy--to flow, branch, bloom, mold, husk, and evolve--our exhibit, “I Seem to Be a Verb,” will move its audience toward greater inclusivity and dialogue with one another.
Who WE ARE
“I actually have a grip on understanding photography now, which was one of my motives for doing this.”
