Staging Portraits (2022 – ongoing) is a portrait series of the community at The Bearded Tit, a queer institution and bar in Redfern. Through photographs and written responses, it offers a glimpse into the ways queer people have redefined concepts of home and family, often out of necessity and survival. The work engages with the legacy of studio portraiture as a means of self-representation and its relationship to queer visual aesthetics. In response to continued transphobic and homophobic violence, Staging Portraits also seeks to explore the joy and pleasure in the relationships we cultivate with one another. Ultimately, it is a love letter to The Bearded Tit — a devotion to sacred queer kinships formed while dancing, drinking, crying, laughing, and embracing. Join us from 6–8pm on Friday 2 June for the opening of four new exhibitions at Firstdraft.