Pride through Polaroids
Celebrating UAL’s LGBTQ+ community through Polaroid photography.
With Joe O’Brien, and Rosie Stephenson. In collaboration with UAL Communications and UAL LGBTQ+ Staff Network.Produced May 2023.
Polaroids are ubiquitous at parties and intimate events and the photos are often saved as reminders of celebrations and friendship. Using such an everyday approach to portrait photography encourages openness, self expression and authentic representation. We organised an event where members of the LGBTQ+ community could come make zines and elect to have their portrait taken and become a face in the campaign.
The UK celebrates Pride each June. University of the Arts London (UAL) has the highest level of LGBTQ+ representation in the sector and runs a campaign every year as an opportunity to celebrate their LGBTQ+ community, centre their experiences and demonstrate allyship.
The 2023 campaign design echoes the Pride in London theme, ‘Never March Alone: Championing Trans Allyship,’ through collaboration with UAL’s LGBTQ+ community.
After the event wrapped, we photographed the Polaroid portraits in a variety of orientations (grids, scattered, stacked), putting the community at the heart of all campaign visuals.
Have a read through my campaign write-up for more highlights.
Polaroid photography by Emma Martin.