Friend of the Gay Games Jeff Sheng, following up on his Fearless Campus Tour devoted to out high school and college athletes, has just published the first volume of photobooks in his new series, Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Here is more info on the project from his website, where you can order the book:
What is the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” photo project and book series?
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Volume 1,” by artist Jeff Sheng, is the first ever published photo book that features the portraits and stories of closeted men and women still serving in the U.S. military affected by the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Policy banning gays and lesbians from openly serving in our military. “Volume 1,” published in January 2010, is the first book of a planned multi-volume series of the project by Jeff Sheng, and features 20 different photo shoots in full color from 17 different service members from across the United States, printed along with selected anonymous e-mails from some of these soldiers detailing their experiences.
Who is Jeff Sheng?
Jeff Sheng is a 29-year old American artist based in Los Angeles. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in photography and filmmaking (BA, Visual and Environmental Studies, 2002) and holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA, Studio Art, 2007) from the University of California, Irvine. His other art project “Fearless,” a powerful photography series that Jeff began in 2003, now features the portraits over 100 openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-identified athletes on high school and college sports teams. "Fearless," has achieved international recognition and acclaim, having been exhibited at over 40 venues between 2006-2009, and will be shown at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in Canada. Jeff also currently teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara. You can see more of his artwork at www.jeffsheng.com
Why did Jeff Sheng choose to start a photo project on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”
In 2008, when his series, “Fearless” began gaining more widespread recognition, Jeff started to receive anonymous e-mails from closeted soldiers who had seen “Fearless” online, many of whom were previously closeted high school and college athletes and hence found a strong resonance with the subjects in “Fearless.” Many of these e-mails also asked Jeff if he had considered working on a project for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and if not, strongly encouraged him to do so. During President Obama’s first year in office, when it became clear to Jeff that a repeal of DADT would not happen soon, he felt compelled to follow through on these requests of the service members to work on a project to give them a visibility and voice through photography, but doing it in a way that would not cost them their careers or jobs in the military.
How did Jeff find participants for “Volume 1”?
The first few participants came from the early e-mails he received asking him to work on the project. Then with his connections in the LGBT community and strong word of mouth through the Internet, such as online social networking sites, he built a network through trust and referrals to find more volunteers.
When was “Volume 1” photographed?
The first photo shoot for “Volume 1” was in January of 2009. The last photo shoot was a few days before Christmas, 2009. Jeff flew over 30,000 miles back and forth across the United States for all of the photo shoots for the book, and the images were taken in almost every region of the United States: the South, the Midwest, the Great Lakes area, the mid-Atlantic region, the East Coast, and the West Coast.
How did Jeff pay for the project? Is there a sponsor?
Like most American artists, Jeff paid for everything with his personal credit cards. The project is entirely self-funded and self-published. While Jeff is in close communication with various LGBT organizations such as GLAAD and Service members Legal Defense Network (SLDN), the project is an independent art project with no official sponsors or funding. He hopes to pay back his debt and fund the future DADT photobook volumes (with a total of hopefully over 100 photoshoots) through in kind gift donations from the public to the project via this site, and sales of books. Hopefully, extra money earned can be used to donate books towards organizations working for the repeal of DADT.
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