Just a few words about the origins of this project.
I met Wing and Ryan just at my arrival in Guangzhou at the Belgian Consulate residence. The consul and his partner were organizing a LGTBQ party for all the community to celebrate this new year 2018. At the party I learned that Ryan was part of the board directors of a LGTBQ charity named Zhitong, an organization dedicated to give counsel and help to the gay and bisexual community of Guangdong province. Wing was part of the organizers of the Guangzhou Pride and also he had a Tango Queer session once every month at the Tango studio he usually goes to study and have fun.
Both guys were special personalities from my point of view.
In China it is prohibited to make a public display of LGTBQ pride (parades, rights demonstrations, gatherings of any kind without police permission, etc.). Any celebration must be in private, as it is the Tango session, or very close monitored by the government, as it is with Zhitong.
But they're proud gay Chinese, proud of their orientation and their personal choices. They are fighters expressing their Pride in their unique ways.
Pride Chinese Style is a photography and performance project which I try to put together this singular manifestation of Pride in Guangzhou with portraits of its fighters and my own interpretation through my Butoh performance. We'll see what happens.
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