The formal studio family portrait was once a sign of wealth and social privilege; however, many people of colour, LGBTQQIP2SAA, and intersectional have historically been under-represented in this traditional archive. This absence, in many ways, is an extension of a multi-tiered act of cultural genocide and misrepresentation in the mainstream media. If we are not seen, who are we? If we are not seen, did we exist? If we are misrepresented, what is our true story?

A photograph, in this sense, is a declaration. Oftentimes the aforementioned were only captured negatively—like animals or specimens. This exhibition aims to represent the historically under-represented through a series of portraits, giving power back to the individual and family, in all of its many variations. We are here. And we will be seen.