Pink Portraits 2024 celebrate diversity of staff working for Transport for Wales

Organisers of the Iris Prize Film Festival have unveiled a series of portraits across Wales to celebrate the diversity of LGBTQ+ professionals working for Transport for Wales.

South Wales-based photographer, Sarah Scorey, was chosen earlier this year to take the photographs.

Sarah holds a first-class BA Hons in Photography, specialising in fashion and editorial photography, from the University of West of England.

There will be an accompanying ‘the making of’ video shot alongside the capturing of the portraits, and the finished film was shown at Pride Cymru, in Cardiff.

Display

The 12 Pink Portraits for 2024, produced by Iris Prize, in partnership with Ffotogallery and Transport for Wales, will be displayed at Cardiff Central Station and on platform screens across the network in Wales.

Neil James, Head of Brand and Marketing at Transport for Wales, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Pink Portraits and Sarah Scorey to capture images of our LGBTQ+ colleagues.

“TfW is proud of our work to build a diverse and inclusive culture where colleagues feel comfortable to be themselves and we look forward to seeing the images across Wales.”

The 12 Transport for Wales staff featured in the Pink Portraits 2024 collection are:

Abbie Vimpany, Customer First Ambassador, She/Her

Owi Davies, Customer Relations Advisor, They/Them

Nathaniel Carr, Sponsorship Graduate, He/Him

Gavin Hawkins, Bus Interchange Operations Manager, He/Him

Mark Jacobs, Senior Planning and Development Manager (TrawsCymru), He/Him

Steve George, Facilities Team, He/Him (prefers Steve)

Lukas Siko, Standards Integration Manager, He/Him

Matthew Rodgers, Conductor, He/Him

Marcus Copsey, Conductor, He/Him

Natalie Hill, Learning and Development Advisor, She/Her

Reece Fleet, Customer Service Advisor, They/Them

Ceri Goode, Customer Service Ambassador, He/Him

“Gay job”

Abbie Vimpany, Customer First Ambassador, said: “My TfW job involves delivering training and working with frontline station colleagues around engagement. My TfW gay job is leading our LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group; this is what brought me to this meeting with Sarah and the Iris Prize. 

“My personal experience of having these photos taken has made me feel proud and fortunate that I can be visible and turn up to work as my whole self.

“While my privileges as a cis, white woman might allow me to be more visible than others can be right now, my hope is that our collective visibility provokes conversation and raises awareness for those who face more specific, intersectional challenges.

“My narrative as a gay woman speaks to just one of the limitless ways to be queer or trans and I encourage others to seek out and tell their own stories.”

Opportunities

“Opportunities like this partnership with the Iris Prize have energised me to work harder and be louder with my support of the LGBTQ+ community. The partnership has allowed me to stand a bit taller and lean a little further into my LGBTQ+ pride.

“My time in school education was under Section 28 and there were limited LGBTQ+ role models to look up to and learn from. This harboured a lot of internalised homophobia in me. I often didn’t feel able to speak about my personal life until I felt really safe with others.

“I definitely feel like I’m shedding more and more shame by listening to others’ experiences, further educating myself on LGBTQ+ history and putting myself out there with opportunities like this.”

Sian Addicott from Ffotogallery said: “Ffotogallery is thrilled to be collaborating with Iris Prize again for this year’s Pink Portraits commission. It offers a great opportunity for an emerging photographer to develop skills and showcase their talents.

“The Pink Portraits play an important role in documenting Wales’s LGBTQ+ community and will ensure their visibility in photographic archives of Welsh culture for years to come.”

Berwyn Rowlands, Festival Director said: “We are delighted to be working with Transport for Wales on the Pink Portraits this year, as it will give greater visibility to our LGBTQ+ colleagues in the community.

“We are excited to see the portraits in situ and to be able to share with our visitors when they arrive for the festival in October.

“It is important that we show that LGBTQ+ people work in all professions in Wales, and this project with TfW has allowed us and them to showcase this.  Each portrait has a story and we are grateful to Abbie for sharing hers with us.”

Iris Prize will return this year: Tuesday 8 October – Sunday 13 October 2024.