Photography exhibition on LGBT identity launches in town hall cafe

A photography exhibition which explores identity in gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people is running at the Rendezvous Cafe this month.

John Rae’s photographs capture identity in the LGBTQ community, and features portraits of subjects from around the country.

It runs in Maidenhead Town Hall’s Rendezvous cafe throughout February, which is LGBT History Month. The exhibition is split into two. In one side, his subjects were given cards which asked what they love, value, believe in and have faith in.

They then filled in answers themselves without seeing any other subjects’ responses. The other photographs use a circus theme to celebrate identity. John, 54, worked in environmental health before switching to a career in photography.

He said: “You discover more about yourself by meeting and chatting with other people. Everyone’s different. You might go with prejudice or ideas but they’re just people.”

John identifies queer as an umbrella term used to avoid pigeonholing someone as gay, lesbian or bisexual. The Bracknell College photography teacher, who used to live in Cox Green but now lives in Basingstoke, praised the Royal Borough for being open and supportive to hosting his exhibition saying other authorities can be scared of the subject.