The First Congregational Church (Camden, Maine) and Americans Who Tell the Truth are co-hosting a multi-event celebration of queer story telling in Orono, Maine, January 14 – February 6, 2024. This stunning collaboration uses portraiture and storytelling to invite communities to hear LGBTQIA+ voices, and change the way we think about queer justice, inclusion and belonging.

Special events:

Panel discussion led by Benjamin Perry
Tuesday, January 23, 7-8:30 p.m.
Orono Performing Arts Center at Orono High School, 14 Goodridge Drive
Participants:
Betty Burkes
Nicole Maines (appearing virtually)
Lucious K. Finston-Rox
Sarah Reynolds
Admission is free, but go to eventbrite to reserve a seat. (Donations to AWTT appreciated.)

Visual Art and Narrative Workshop #1
Wednesday, January 24, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
Innovative Media Research and Commercialization (IMRC) Center, University of Maine, Orono
Facilitators and Assistants:
Benjamin Perry
Rob Shetterly
UMaine students
Registration is free, but go to eventbrite to reserve a spot. (Donations to AWTT appreciated.)

Visual Art and Narrative Workshop #2
Tuesday, January 30, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Orono Public Library
Facilitators and Assistants:
Benjamin Perry
Rob Shetterly
UMaine students
Registration is free, but go to eventbrite to reserve a spot. (Donations to AWTT appreciated.)

More about the Workshops

We want to help participants own their own stories’ power. To help people harness that incredible potential, we will organize two narrative workshops led by storytelling experts. Facilitated by Robert Shetterly, painter of Americans Who Tell the Truth, and Benjamin Perry, author of Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter, participants can choose to work in either written or visual format. Together, we’ll discuss the core elements that create a compelling story, explore how to use our lives as source material, and hear each other’s stories. Participants will learn to use both visual art and written words to communicate truths about who they are, and how to listen better to their neighbors’ truths as well. To change the narrative about queer people, we need to empower more narrators!  Learn from renowned experts and seize the transformational power of your truth! Our stories can create the world we deserve.

Community-wide Exhibit

From January 16 – February 6, AWTT portraits, alongside art produced during the workshops, will be on display at various Orono locations – Orono Public Library, The Store/Ampersand, Lord Hall and The University Union – and will include portraits of:

Nicole Maines
Mary Bonauto
Betty Burkes
Alicia Garza
Sandra Steingraber
Pauli Murray
V (formerly Eve Ensler)
Harry Hay
James Baldwin
Jane Addams

At a time of so much public vitriol and animosity—steeped in lies about queer people—we believe in the power of art and narrative to foster better conversations.

Robert Shetterly’s portraits masterfully capture LGBTQIA+ leaders from around the country, inviting viewers to find inspiration in their stories. But this exhibit also makes clear: It’s not just big names who are making change. The beautiful photographs and testimonies collected by the First Congregational Church portray queer people from around the state owning their own blessedness and belovedness, disrupting simplistic narratives that pit LGBTQIA+ rights and religious freedom against one another.

This exhibit’s intention is to invite collective engagement. Pairings of portraits and photographs will be placed in public buildings throughout the community, accompanied by personal testimonies and information about the show.