‘Coming out of the Blueprint’ is a series of A1 graphic collages telling true ‘coming out’ stories. With a focus on the moment of coming out to parents, the graphics combine words and images to represent a range of responses.

I interviewed women and a transgender man from the USA, Venezuela, Northern Ireland and the UK. They all very kindly shared their stories with me. The interviews themselves were revealing, with people recalling small details they’d previously forgotten about. I told my own story within the project too – we’re all in it together.

The collages represent both individual stories as well as a collective story. They feature physically collaged areas that are shared between the prints – part of one story overlaps on top of another one.

The blueprint is a plan. It is a way to represent how something should be. By using only blue, white and geometric shapes these prints refer to this ideal. However the clarity of the blueprint is disturbed by overlapping elements created, often spontaneously, by physical collage.

This project celebrates people’s resilience, even when the coming out process was difficult. The blueprint is something to push against and to break free from.

Click on each image below to read each story and to see the print in more detail.