Nationally renowned photographer iO Tillett Wright will visit Northern Michigan University for a photo shoot and public presentation on Monday, March 24. If you would be interested in scheduling a one-on-one media interview, please contact NMU professor Shravan Rajagopal at srajagop@nmu.edu or 227-2738. Times are available in the morning and early evening before her 7 p.m. presentation. 

Wright's photography can be seen regularly in two features in The New York Times: "Notes from the Underground" and "The Lowdown." In 2010, she began a project called Self Evident Truths, photographing anyone who felt like they qualified to fall on some part of the LGBTQ spectrum, from bisexual to transgender. Shot in simple black and white, in natural light, with no makeup or styling, the photos were intended to humanize the varied face of gays in America today. “Guess what, we look just like you, your mother, your brother or the coworker sitting right next to you.” Around 50 portraits were shot in the two weeks that she had and were presented in stacks in a gallery in Los Angeles, to be taken away by viewers for free.

Struck by the powerful impact of the project, even on such a small scale, Wright set her sights on taking the project national. Now her aim is to photograph anyone in the United States that is, or ever has been, anything other than 100 percent straight. The ultimate goal is between 5,000 and 10,000 portraits.

Write will hold a photo shoot at 3 p.m. in the University Center for LGBQT students, faculty, staff and community members. At 7 p.m., she will present photos from her iO Self Evident Truth project in Jamrich 101 as part of the Diversity Common Reader Project.