Brighton-based photographer Chris Jepson receives international recognition and award for The Identity Project, Portraits of the LGBTQ+ community.
Last night, 10 November 2021, the Federation of Gay Games held an awards evening as part of their Annual General Assembly at the Amsterdam Bar and recognised a number of local people doing for their work promoting diversity, inclusion and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community.
Each year the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) holds its Annual Conference in a city around the world and selects individuals or organisations that are doing amazing things for LGBTQ+ inclusion. This year that city is Brighton and Hove and The Identity Project by Chris Jepson won an ‘Excellence Award’ for someone who has made significant effort to portray LGBTQ+ people; challenge homophobia or transphobia; and/or make opportunities for LGBTQ+ lives to be positively recognised.
The Identity Project by Chris Jepson is a series of almost 200 portraits of LGBTQ+ people from all walks of life. It was created to address the lack of diversity both in mainstream and LGBTQ+ media. After 20+ years photographing on the LGBTQ+ scene in London and further afield, Chris Jepson wanted to create a body of work that was as fully inclusive and representative of our glorious LGBTQ+ rainbow family as he could.
To date more than 300 people have completed the ‘get involved’ form on the website and almost 200 have been photographed.