Made with the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN), this series was photographed at Skid Row Pride, a neighborhood celebration that brought Skid Row’s queer and trans community into shared space for music, care and visibility. The portraits are straightforward and celebratory: people claiming the frame for themselves and for one another.

Skid Row’s LGBTQ+ residents are often left out of the city’s larger Pride picture, even as they face higher barriers to stable housing and affirming care. The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research estimates hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ adults live in Los Angeles County, and national studies show LGBTQ youth are disproportionately represented among those experiencing homelessness and can face obstacles accessing shelters or health services. In that context, LA CAN's annual Pride events are public life and public health at once, and a place to be seen, named and safe.

In a city where Pride is widely photographed, Skid Row’s queer and trans residents rarely appear. These photographs document their celebration as an event in its own right, not a footnote to crisis.