At this year’s Shutterfest, I collaborated on a photo project that came from a place of urgency. It was more than an artistic concept. It was a confrontation. A mirror held up to society’s silence.

We reimagined the old proverb: See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. But instead of playful monkeys or cultural clichés, our imagery was raw, visceral, and deeply human. Bodies bound in Shibari became symbols of silence, complicity, and willful ignorance.

This project wasn’t aimed at the loud and hateful voices that attack the LGBTQIA+ community. We’ve heard them. This was for the quiet ones. The ones who see injustice and look away. Who hear slurs in conversation and stay silent. Who speak about love and inclusion but only when it’s safe and comfortable.

Let’s be clear: in a time when LGBTQIA+ people are being vilified, legislated against, and violently attacked, silence is not neutrality. It is a conscious decision.

The idea to use Shibari in the project was deliberate. Rope restricts, but in the right hands, it also holds. In our imagery, it symbolized the invisible binds of fear, complicity, and privilege. Those who choose not to speak are tied not by force but by convenience.

We see it every day. People who “don’t want to get political” while LGBTQIA+ lives are debated in courtrooms and erased from classrooms. Friends who “love everyone” but won’t challenge when their own family members make hateful comments. Businesses who post rainbows in June but remain silent the rest of the year.

Confronting the Comfort of Inaction

In every knot, a question: What keeps you from fighting back?

The truth is, this kind of silence kills. It’s not always in visible ways. Sometimes it’s in the isolation someone feels when no one stands up for them. Sometimes it’s in the laws passed unchallenged. Sometimes it’s in the slow erosion of hope. And it hurts worse when it comes from those who claim to care.

If you’re uncomfortable speaking up, imagine how uncomfortable it is to live every day in fear for your identity. If you’re afraid to rock the boat, remember that many LGBTQIA+ people were thrown overboard a long time ago. Allyship is not passive. It is not aesthetic. It is not a rope you wear like an accessory. It is a choice to untie your own fear, to free your voice, and to use it when it's hardest.

Our hope with this project was not just to provoke but to awaken. To shake those who sit idly by and remind them: your silence isn’t invisible. It is seen. It is heard. And it speaks volumes. The time to break it is now. Unbind your voice. Speak. Stand. Disrupt. Because if you’re not actively working against LGBTQIA+ hate, you may be silently keeping that hate alive.

Photos by Matt Maenpaa

Photos by Rave McCarthy

Intagram Names for the Collaborators:

Photography and Lighting Assist @foolishafterdark

Photography @forestrevenantphotography

See No Evil Model @macabre_barbiee

Hear No Evil Model @krhysalis

Speak No Evil Model @itsmariemirage

Event @btshutter