LGBT Youths in China: We Have Only This Life, This Life Only

Homosexuality has been illegal until 1997, in China, and only in 2001 it has been removed from the list of mental illnesses. It is etimated that there are more than 40 million LGBTQi people in the country, nowadays, most of them are living inside the close because they fear mobbing and social ostracism: eventhough there is no official political repression, homosexuality is stigmatized at a social level. Many of those who live in the smaller villages end up married to a straight partner, but others leave their hometowns and move to big cities, where they can live their sexuality in a more open way. These are the portraits of some of the LGBTQi youths living in Beijing, shot between April and May 2016. I asked to the subjects to tell me the stories of their lives while standing in front of a small spotlight in a dark room, resulting in a series of intimate and emotional images. The idea was to convey the feeling of them being in the darkness, like inside the closet, in the moment when the doors open up to a new light of hope and self consciousness. This project has been created with the help of the Beijing LGBT Center, an NGO that advocates for LGBTQ rights in China and assists families and individuals with consulting and peer support.