Artist gives the LGBTQ community in Shropshire a voice
Images of LGBTQ+ people from around the Shropshire area have gone on show at Bridgnorth Library and are set to be compiled into a book by documentary photographer and author Kathryn O'Connor.
Kathryn, aged 46, from Walsall, who styles herself as a genderfluid gay artist, is helping to promote equality and diversity through work with different age groups.
She has set herself the task of taking 100 portraits of people and compiling autobiographies and opinions from across a diverse LGBTQ+ commuunity living and working across the West Midlands region.
Kathryn said: "I believe the best way to communicate with each other is through each of our true voices, life stories and opinions, both on life and on being part of the LGBTQ+ community."
She has been capturing the portraits of people which will eventually be compiled into a book and her latest exhibition of photographs being staged at Bridgnorth Library runs until April 30.
Kathryn said: "I am hoping that people from across the Shropshire area will come to see the work on show.
"There are 13 photographs in the exhibition and so far I have done 73 across the West Midlands.
"These will be compiled into a book alongside a major exhibition which will be held at a venue yet to be determined and workshops in schools.
"My whole aim is to give people a platform so that they can be seen and celebrated and help people get more knowledge about the community.
"I am compiling a book which I would have wanted to see on the shelves as a child and eventually hope that it will become part of the school curriculum."
Kathryn's next exhibition of photographs involving people from the Birmingham and Black Country area will take place at Wolverhampton Central Library from May 14 to May 25.
