LACP
"Public Record: Portraits of Affection and Intimacy"

Juror Statement - Richard Renaldi (http://renaldi.com/) 

Queer People who continue the process of fighting to expand who is welcome at the table and who gets to be seen, have had both the challenge and good fortune to create their own structure for how to define and construct identity and relationships. Public Record: Portraits of Affection and Intimacy affirms this by presenting work by a talented group of artists and image makers who are documenting with honesty and bravery the parts of themselves that are often hidden or taboo. Looking through the collection of photographs I felt validation and kinship with the many roles, kinks, and moments of intimacy depicted in these works. I have been thinking a lot about feelings and how people so often don’t allow themselves to be moved and instead go through life with an armor designed to protect themselves from the possibility of pain and heartbreak. These images and the artists who made them don’t do that. They let their guard down, let us in, and share. That’s the real prize to come out of this competition.

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