The Identity Room

The Identity Room

Jackson Enyeart

  A safe space where LGBTQ youth can come and try on different clothes to try on different identities and feel pride and comfort through self-expression. One unique clothing item is a unisex dress using cyanotype as a pattern.

LGBTQ youth are more prone to feeling isolated and alone in non-accepting communities where they are not free to explore their identities. This leads to higher suicide rates and drug abuse. My project will solve this problem by providing a space for LGBTQ youth to come and explore their identity with other members, so that they don't feel alone. People often dress in the way that they want to be perceived (i.e sporty, comfy, sharp, preppy). LGBTQ youth will be able to express their identity through clothes.

The safe space will be warm and inviting and posted on the walls, headshots of famous members of the LGBTQ community and an inclusive mission statement. It will have Christmas lights which will represent Gay Pride colors and my mission statement on the wall. Part of the wardrobe will be a unisex dress which is sewn and imprinted with patterns using cyanotype. Part of the reason I’m using cyanotype is that it is imprinted using sun exposure. This is metaphoric in a way that when the cyanotype comes out to the sun, something beautiful is created in the same way that LGBTQ members should come out to the world.