There are many stories housed in libraries and come next month there will be 11 more in the Civic Library.
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Canberra artists Jane Duong and Victoria Firth-Smith have been commissioned by PhotoAccess, through an ACT government grant, to showcase a collection of stories from the city's LGBTIQ+ community through their exhibition Raising the Flag: Matter of Pride.
The exhibition will bring together original photographic portraits and intriguing personal objects to show how 11 LGBTIQ+ Canberrans - from teens to people in their 60s - made their distinctive journey to Pride.
The key part of the exhibition will be 11 flags featuring photos of each of the participants, which will be printed on fabric incorporating the 11 colours of the Progress Pride flag.
"We asked people to come as they are. We didn't ask them to dress in any particular way [for the photos]," Duong - the project's photographer - says.
"Some people are smiling, some people are not.
"Sometimes I would ask them to think about pride and then take the picture.
"But we knew how they wanted to pose though because we wanted all the portraits to be similar - front on so that when they're hung as flags they're standing shoulder to shoulder."
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The rainbow photo display - which will be hung from the library's mezzanine - will frame a collection of personal items each selected by the participants as the thing that matters most to them.
"By people donating really sentimental objects from their life, we're having an exhibition ... for people to understand some stories of pride," Firth-Smith says.
"We got two teddy bears out of 11 people so that's really interesting.
"Our oldest person and our youngest person both offered a teddy bear as something most significant to them.
"Both were gifted the bears at some point in their life and I think that really amplifies that acceptance of family really plays an important role no matter what age."
According to Firth-Smith - who interviewed each of the participants for the exhibition - while each Canberran had unique experiences to share, all had a common element of community and relationships.
"It's been really powerful the role of the community has been played in a sense of pride and coming out and being accepted," she says.
"It's not just about pride in oneself but it's pride in one's community or family or culture as well which is really beautiful."
Raising the Flag: Matter of Pride will be launched on Thursday, October 24 and will run until December 16 at the Civic Library.
On October 26, from 2pm to 4pm, Duong and Firth-Smith will lead Raise Your Flag, a free, family friendly public workshop at the Civic Library, where people will be invited to create their own Pride flag.