Magnus Hastings Spotlights Joy of Queer & Trans Identities in New Book

Magnus Hastings Spotlights the Joy of Queer and Trans Identities in New Photography Book

The new coffee-table book from photographer Magnus Hastings celebrates the expanding spectrum of queer identity and visibility in the face of an increasingly hostile and hateful political climate. Rainbow Revolution from Chronicle Books features a stunning photographic array of people representing the many faces and identities of the LGBTQ+ community.

“The inspiration for Rainbow Revolution came from watching the world moving to a dark and right-winged place,” says Hastings. “I wanted to create a project that was highly visible and unapologetically queer, and one that shouted with pride, defiance, humor, and joy because, after all, if the LGBTQ community is good at anything, it is laughing in the face of adversity.”

Rainbow Revolution features over 300 photographs, including many with recognizable faces like Kathy Griffin, Boy George, Luke Evans, and a generous sampling of favorites from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Powerful essays from many of Hastings’s subjects accompany the portraits, which, the photographer says, “elevate the book for me and give it a purpose beyond the social media recognition the images have gained.”

Photography by Magnus Hastings

The project began in the winter of 2018 with the help of Drag Race star Alaska Thunderfuck. The idea was to allow Alaska to transform a box created by Hastings in his garage into something that reflects how she wants to present or be seen in the world. The photographer repeated the process over the next two years, capturing a diverse group of queer voices sharing their concepts of identity through art. The final product is a personal, political, funny, racy, and magical work of art.

A portion of print sales from Rainbow Revolution will go to Magnus Hastings’s chosen charities: True Colors United in the United States (www.truecolorsunited.org) and AKT (www.akt.org.uk), formerly the Albert Kennedy Trust, in the United Kingdom. Digital galleries can be viewed and prints can be purchased at MagnusHastings.com