The commissions will celebrate the diversity of the city’s LGBT+ community as well as mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of Plymouth’s ‘Pride in Our Past’ project and February’s LGBT+ History Month.

Professional and amateur artists, wordsmiths, photographers, film makers and musicians who identify as part of the Plymouth’s LGBT+ community were invited to submit proposals for the commissions.

The four successful creatives will each receive a grant of £500 to produce a new digital piece of work. The outcomes will be shared across The Box’s online platforms on 23, 24, 25 and 26 February. They will also be added to the Plymouth LBGT+ archive for future generations to experience and enjoy. They are:

Eric Rickard (under 25)
Eric will produce a digital graphic novel utilising his own original prose and poetry.

Elani Evangelou (under 25)
Elani will create a digital zine featuring her poetry, visual art and photography to tell her own and her friends’ stories.

Arth Lawr
Arth will produce a series of six ‘polaroid’ paintings that tell his story.

Laurie Reynolds
Laurie will create a photographic zine ‘confronting the issues of code switching in the LGBTQI+ community’.

Plymouth City Council Deputy Leader, Peter Smith said:

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve selected these four talented people to complete The Box’s ‘My Story’ micro-commissions, and were thrilled to receive a range of high quality applications. Although narrowing it down was a difficult task, Eric, Elani, Arth and Laurie represent Plymouth’s diverse LGBT+ community well and each have a unique and interesting story to be told. It will great to share their work with a wider audience in February to mark LGBT+ History Month and celebrate a decade since Plymouth’s award-winning ‘Pride in Our Past’ project was first launched.