Sanctuary (2023–2026) is an ongoing photographic series that examines the domestic landscapes of queer, trans, and non-binary individuals across the United States. Through intimate, collaborative portraits, the project highlights the diversity of lived experiences within the LGBTQIA+ community in settings where individuals are free to create, rest, dream, and live on their own terms. The surrounding interiors, filled with personal objects and textures of daily life, are integral to each portrait, offering layered narratives of identity, memory, and survival. Each image foregrounds autonomy, resilience, and the sustaining power of chosen family, offering a counter-narrative to the stigmatization and erasure of queer and trans lives. With this scholarship, I will expand Sanctuary by traveling to underrepresented regions in the South and Midwest, where queer and trans communities face heightened legislative threats yet remain vastly under-documented. Funds will support travel and short accommodation stays, enabling me to make new work, and will also contribute to the production of a professionally designed book dummy, advancing the project toward publication and exhibitions. Over the course of the year, my goals are to produce 15–20 new portraits, expand the project’s geographic reach into the South and Midwest, archive written stories from each participant, create a book dummy combining portraits and texts, and prepare the work for submission to publishers and festivals.
