Presented in collaboration with Silver Eye Center for Photography

To be seen for who we truly are is a fundamental human need, especially in societies shaped by white and heteronormative narratives. When guided by openness and empathy, photographic portraiture gives form to this shared desire for visibility.

Ajamu X, a fine art photographer, activist, and scholar, has spent decades advocating for Black LGBTQ+ lives. Using nineteenth-century darkroom techniques, such as the platinum print, his work explores sensuality, gender, sexuality, and queerness. Through this process, he challenges the absence and reductive representation of Black, Brown, and queer bodies in the history of photography.

Created by Ajamu X during his April 2025 Rainbow Serpent artist residency, FIERCE: Pittsburgh honors the city’s Black queer culture as part of a growing global archive, alongside work created in Bristol, UK, and Toronto, Canada. The individuals celebrated in this exhibition are shaping Pittsburgh’s story through their contributions to the creative arts and education, civic and political life, and health activism. At a time when Black, queer, and trans experiences are too often erased, Ajamu X’s portraits and the voices of each sitter offer visibility, inspiration, and kinship within local and global communities.

FIERCE: Pittsburgh is dedicated in celebration of the life of Christopher Smith.