Using self-portraiture, still life imagery and family archives taken in Bradford, Ontario, Not a Sin Not a Sinner uses photography to reflect upon the complexity of home and identity. This series aims to examine how feelings of belonging are shaped by heteronormativity. By visualizing my navigation of community and queerness I hope to give nuance to narratives of LGBTQ+ life outside of the city.

I look around and see a place familiar yet distant. A whip-lash between alienation and closeness. It holds one sense of community while lacking another. There is a duality within this experience that makes it not as simple as staying or leaving. 

Navigating can be done in a multitude of ways. The ultimate goal is a smooth transition with minimal snagging. Within my small town, I snagged. I grappled with my queerness through a sense of bending, flowing and resisting. An experience not uncommon for small-town gays.  

Within the Catholic school, church and casual conversation; heteronormativity was everywhere. Surrounding me was a mix of kind and unkind people, like in any town, but there was also this palpable sense of difference. This is how I was sold ideals that felt less and less possible as I grew up. It is where I learned that it’s both freeing and confining to inherently defy a mould placed upon you.