In 2017 I was heavily inspired by a news story that came out about Giovanni Melton, a 14 year old gay teenager who was shot by his own father. According to his mother, the father, Wendell Melton, shot Giovanni because he was against his son’s sexual orientation. Giovanni’s foster mother stated “he’d (Wendell Melton) rather have a dead son then a gay son.”
Today, just as in the past, many people apart of the LGBTQ community are being killed, harassed, and treated unfairly simply because of who they choose to love or even identify as. I want to work towards changing that by creating work that influences others to be strong and their true selves. With Giovanni’s story in mind, I wanted to create a photographic fashion essay specifically for the queer youth of today: a visual message of hope and hardship, something to inspire them to be themselves and to be proud of who they are, a message letting them know that they are not alone in this world and that many others share these experiences with them.
