Guide
Image Description: A person standing outdoors at night holds a phone that emits bright white light, illuminating part of their face and jacket. Dense foliage and fallen leaves are visible in the background.
I went into the woods at 3am, and a friend used their phone light as a guide. This image is named guides because the friend was actually guiding me. Coming out originated from debutant culture, and the tradition was taken into queerness because, since queerness was discriminated against, queer spaces underwent constant surveillance. To get into the queer community and access queer spaces, young queer people had to find a queer elder to vet them, decide if they were actually safe or actually queer, and then invite them into the community.
I think about that constantly because queerness and the queer community, especially in Western culture, has a lot of individual narratives. This is an example of community and communalism in the queer community showing how people with many differences come together to keep each other safe.
We all need a guide sometimes. I had people help me. My friend came out as pan and explained what it meant to be trans and ace, guiding me in the community and teaching me, helping me understand and realize, “Oh, I am this.” Now, I am a queer mentor. I’m going to be someone else’s guide. We basically guide people to undestand themselves better and guide through the dark, keep each other safe.