Sarah Mei Herman
Netherlands
Solace
2019-2022
Solace features members of the LGBTQ+ community photographed by Sarah Mei Herman. The series began with Herman’s acceptance of an invitation by Emerson & Wajdowicz Studios (EWS) to produce a project for their photobook series dedicated to showcasing the diversity and complexity of queer communities around the world. In September 2019, Herman arrived in Xiamen, China, where she photographed 14 queer individuals and couples, all of whom she found through her existing network in the city. Unable to return to Xiamen during the Covid-19 pandemic, she continued the project in the Netherlands, photographing young members of China’s LGBTQ community who had relocated to Europe. The book was published by New York’s The New Press in December 2022. In China, same-sex relationships were once again legalized by the turn of the last millennium, and homosexuality was officially declassified as a mental disorder by 2001. However, despite these changes, a negative stigma persists against queer-identifying individuals. Recent reports from China underscore government efforts to suppress LGBTQ+ media and events, while many individuals are still sent to conversion therapy by their families. Among the young people featured in this project, few feel comfortable openly discussing their sexual orientation or gender identity.
