10 Randi Medina- iO Tillett Wright

iO Tillett Wright is a New York artist. Her work has appeared in the New York Times as well as several other magazines. She's curated several shows and dabbles in writing and film. Though her work in my opinion leans a little more to the commercial side of photography, her current project now has really moved me. Her work in general deals with identity particularly her fascination with gender and sexual identity and all the "gray" areas in-between gay and straight. Her work stems from a need to be outside of a "box" or label. This fascination led her to undertake a huge national project. Wright has begun a human activism campaign called Self Evident Truths. In this project she hopes to photograph portraits of 10,000 people in different major cities throughout the U.S. who identify not hundred percent straight to emphasize just how "gray" sexual identity can be, and that therefore it is extremely illogical and unfair to marginalize the LGBTQ community. Once she has reached her goal of 10,000 portraits, Wright hopes to do an installation at the Washington Monument in DC of all 10,000 faces in order to bring awareness to the issue of human rights in this country. I was inspired by this project because it is definitely an example of "GO BIG." One thing I have learned is that when you have a message to tell as an artist, that is as crucial as this, you can deliver it. Think as big as you can, anything is possible- and Wright's approach to achieving this is inspiring from artist to another. Wright also does many presentations and talks about gay rights. I look forward to seeing the final installation reach DC, it will be apart of our history.




Below is an image from a fundraiser exhibition. 1,675 Self Evident Truths portraits at The Hole Gallery

 

Here is a link to a video about Self Evident Truths

http://vimeo.com/25573237