Cereaal Studio, a startup photography studio who dedicates a concept shoot each month towards a particular passion, has put Pride at the forefront this June. In Celebration of Pride Month they came up with Project Industry, a food shoot “aiming to celebrate everyone’s true colors.” It is especially significant to them as Matthew Lee, their creative director, very recently came out.
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Project Industry aims to celebrate identity and individuality through subverting what is the “norm” for fruits. This was executed through photographing fruits which were painted in different colors of the rainbow contrary to their natural hue. They explain:
We’ve got purple pineapples, orange avocados, and pink bananas, not to mention a few other wonderfully unique fruits in different shapes, sizes, and colors. We want to encourage people to celebrate themselves however they were born. Yellow Dragon Fruits may not be the usual, but they’re beautiful in their own way. A fruit is a fruit no matter what color it’s painted or grown into.
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The series does a wonderful job of implanting the idea that this may not be what we’re used to, or what we would typically expect, but it’s still not wrong in any way. In fact, differences can and should be appreciated instead. Because being yourself, in whatever color that comes in, is beautiful.
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More than that, the campaign also strives to send the message that we all make up the rainbow — we all belong. They share:
Whoever you are, or however you identify yourself, we want you to know that you are part of this community. You are needed to complete the rainbow — whether you’re gay, straight, bi, queer, curious, or questioning. The core of our message has to do with acceptance, inclusion, and support for everyone and the challenges they go through.
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This was particularly inspired by their creative director whose recent coming out has left him liberated and feeling as if an enormous weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Since Cereaal Studio acknowledges that not everyone might have the privilege of coming out or being accepted once they do they wanted to extend their own support and show them that no one is alone. They tell us:
This campaign is important to us because we want people to feel the way Matt felt: like there were people there to support him and welcome him. Because after all, we share in one community, and we need everyone to complete our rainbow.
Share your own #Pride stories with us in the comments!
Credit for Photos: Cereaal Studio
Dhana Villaroman (Production Design), Matthew Lee assisted by Jonathan Oyales (Photography), Tony Valete and Angelica Caparros (Post-Production) and Ryanne Co (Social Media).
