"The photographer's job is not to make art, but to bear witness”
Danny Lyon
I AM ROYAL ART EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS
QUEER WITHOUT FEAR PRIDE IN WHO WE ARE
QUEER WITHOUT FEAR PRIDE IN WHO WE ARE
QUEER WITHOUT FEAR PRIDE IN WHO WE ARE
These photographs are taken at Pride marches, protests, and queer punk spaces across the UK. Shot in black and white, they document queer and trans visibility, resistance, and joy where it is loudest and most fragile
Drag kings.
Drag queens.
Trans bodies in motion
Hand-painted placards.
All powerful forms of expression
Without colour, the imag
These photographs are taken at Pride marches, protests, and queer punk spaces across the UK. Shot in black and white, they document queer and trans visibility, resistance, and joy where it is loudest and most fragile
Drag kings.
Drag queens.
Trans bodies in motion
Hand-painted placards.
All powerful forms of expression
Without colour, the images hold gesture, emotion, and presence. The spectacle falls away. What remains is people claiming spaces and supporting each other,
Pride is not a brand.
It does not need permission.
It will not be quiet.
This work returns Pride to its roots in protest. Queer punk and queer community runs through it raw, political, unapologetic. Anger sits beside softness. Celebration meets confrontation. Joy becomes an act of resistance.
These photographs carry the power of the people within them.
They witness solidarity.
They witness vulnerability.
They witness refusal.
This is an ongoing record of queer and trans lives lived in public space.
We are here.
We are loud.
We are unashamed.
This work has been shown
in full or in part across Coventry including
The Twisted barrel at Fargo Village
Coventry University &
The Yard
PRIDE SKATE PUNK THE PERFORMANCE
QUEER WITHOUT FEAR PRIDE IN WHO WE ARE
QUEER WITHOUT FEAR PRIDE IN WHO WE ARE
one year of showing up.
waiting around,watching, shooting.
camera in hand.
trust built slowly.
black + white.
stripped back.
nothing to hide.
pride parades spilling into the streets.
banners. bodies. noise. joy.
street spots worn smooth by wheels.
boards scraping concrete.
basements and back rooms.
amps humming. feedback screaming.
one year of showing up.
waiting around,watching, shooting.
camera in hand.
trust built slowly.
black + white.
stripped back.
nothing to hide.
pride parades spilling into the streets.
banners. bodies. noise. joy.
street spots worn smooth by wheels.
boards scraping concrete.
basements and back rooms.
amps humming. feedback screaming.
sweat on the walls.
music too loud to think.
movement too fast to fake.
voices shouting not over each other but together.
this isn’t about performance.
it’s about space.
about finding room.
about holding space for each other.places to land.
to breathe.
to be seen without explanation.
to exist without permission.
these communities shift.
they’re never fixed.
people drift in.
people drift out.
but the care stays.
hands pulling you up.
someone checking you’re okay.
someone making space.
belonging looks like this.
messy.
loud.
tender.
alive.
what happens here doesn’t stay here.
it follows people home.
into confidence.
into identity.
into everyday survival.
these photographs are fragments.
moments caught mid-breath.
proof of connection.
proof of presence.
freedom lives here.
self-expression lives here.
unity lives here.
no polish.
no barriers.
no apologies.
just people.
THE ROYAL LIVE LOUNGE
QUEER WITHOUT FEAR PRIDE IN WHO WE ARE
THE ROYAL LIVE LOUNGE
music + photography
live and loud
The Royal Live Lounge is an ongoing project built from a love of music
and photography.
No staging.
No second chances.
THE GIGS
Local bands.
International artists.
Different genres.from street buskers
to small venues
(300 cap max).
This is the start.
Bigger rooms are coming.
WHO I’VE SHOT
The Skinner Brothers
Love Ghost
G
music + photography
live and loud
The Royal Live Lounge is an ongoing project built from a love of music
and photography.
No staging.
No second chances.
THE GIGS
Local bands.
International artists.
Different genres.from street buskers
to small venues
(300 cap max).
This is the start.
Bigger rooms are coming.
WHO I’VE SHOT
The Skinner Brothers
Love Ghost
Gans
Pete Doherty
Soapbox
Meryl Streek
Wallace & Vomit
Short Straw
Grail Guard
…and more.
The Royal live lounge is an archive in progress.
Some of this project has been exhibited at Just Dropped In Records in Coventry under the title
“12 x 12 in black and white no ones fighting on the dance floor“