At Pride 2015, the St. Louis Jewish community’s interactive booth encouraged Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals and allies to share their faces and stories to humanize the cause of inclusion and diversity. Visitors to the booth had the opportunity to take a polaroid picture of themselves and their families and transcribe stories and experiences to share with the rest of the community.

From these pictures, an art exhibit was created through the joint efforts of many St. Louis Jewish organizations under the umbrella of the St. Louis Jewish Pride Committee. A Jewish Federation of St. Louis Innovation Grant funded the materials and details of this exhibit as well as the programming that is accompanying it. The work has been completed by volunteers who believe in the cause of inclusion in the Jewish community.

All photographs were taken on polaroid film by Jewish volunteers at the St. Louis Pride Festival at Soldier’s Memorial in downtown St. Louis. The writing featured at the bottom of the polaroids are written in the handwriting by those featured in the images.

The exhibit will be on display at Congregation Temple Israel from Dec. 4 to 18 and is open to the public during regular operating hours. Additionally, Temple Israel is hosting a Shabbat service at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 4, with a presentation and overview of reasons behind the exhibit’s creation and what diversity and inclusion mean to the greater Jewish community. For more information on the exhibit at Temple Israel, contact Erin May at [email protected].

To follow the exhibit, visit Facebook.com/Jewish.LGBTA.STL. To request a visit from the art exhibit, contact Tasha Kaminsky at [email protected].