Last week, I partnered with Say It Loud to deliver a workshop to its members focusing on how to improve their photography skills, train their photographer's eye and turn ideas into photography projects. The workshop was part of a series of creative workshops which will fit into a big project for Pride this year. The theme of the project is "What pride means to me", in which members will be creating pieces of art or performances that express what pride means to them with the aim of showing them in a virtual exhibition.
Say It Loud is an organisation committed to providing support and advocacy for LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. It was founded by Aloysius Ssali in Uganda in 1994, who fled to the UK after being targeted, captured and tortured just because of his sexuality. However, the UK didn't formally recognise sexuality as a reason for claiming refugee status until 2010, so Aloysius was forced to live without papers for five years. In 2010, he successfully claimed refugee status.
Seeing that LGBTQ+ refugees have to overcome incredible challenges for the chance to call the UK their home, he decided to found Say It Loud Club in the UK in 2010. Since then, the organisation has helped hundreds of LGBTQ+ refugees to successfully gain the right to live freely in the UK.
If you want to learn more about Aloysius outstanding work, or if you want to support Say It Loud, please visit www.sayitloudclub.org
Photo credit: screenshot by Holly Dawson from Say It Loud.
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