COMING OUT
25 Portraits - 25 Personal Stories
COMING OUT: 25 Portraits - 25 Personal Stories
Simon J. Webb
13th October - 14th of November 2025
Open View: 16th of October 7 pm
Photographed over a ten year period, Coming Out is a collection of portraits taken by photographer Simon J. Webb from his sessions for British queer arts quarterly Jack The Lad. Despite depicting a collection of uniquely talented queer people from the creative arts sector, 21st Century society has still deemed it necessary for each and every one of them to face the dilemma of having to come out in order to live their personal and professional life both openly and authentically. It’s a decision that is seldom taken lightly by anyone in the queer community, the potential for rejection from loved ones, bullying at school or discrimination in the workplace still being a very real fear for many, and whilst these portraits show it definitely does get better, it is hoped that the addition of audio recordings recounting the personal coming out stories that accompany these portraits will serve as a reminder that this unavoidable trauma is still a process that seems cruelly reserved exclusively for members of the queer community.
About the photographer:
Simon J. Webb has been a photographer for over thirty-five years. Progressing from a photographers assistant and darkroom technician to studio photographer back in the analogue days of the late eighties, he took a hiatus from photography to carve out a second career in the booming video post production industry of the nineties. This culminated in opening his own post production facility in Soho for 10 years. Having worked on projects for the likes of Bryan Ferry, Phil Collins and countless nineties electronic acts, he eventually rediscovered a passion for photography, digital camera’s having almost caught up in quality with their analogue counterparts. In this capacity Simon not only found himself frequently working with members of the queer community, but realised that most of the people he photographed also came to his studio also armed with an endless stream of fascinating and relatable stories. This would eventually lead to him publishing his own queer culture magazine, Jack The Lad which, after 43 Issues and over 120 interviews, remains an ongoing venture that is currently enjoying its 10th incredible year.