From the group exhibition A Long Arc: Photography and the American South Since 1845 at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art:

“Though Southern cities like Atlanta, New Orleans, and Savannah have been bastions of queer culture for decades, the religious and social conservatism that pervades in much of the region has rarely foregrounded stories and images of LGBTQIA+ lives. Peyton Fulford’s portraits center the queer experience within Southern life and the desire to find one’s circle. Rian with Friends shows a group of gender-nonconforming individuals, their bodies gently entwined and physically supporting one another within a lush bucolic setting. The portrait speaks to the complexities and fluidity of gender and expresses a collective identity for people forced to keep their true selves hidden in the face of a stridently resistant political culture.”