Choosing Love

Nathan Van (He/She/They), Creator of Queer Connect, Nathan’s bio self describes them as “Naarms Favourite Gender Fluid Leo Fashion Doll’ with talents recognised in Modelling, Styling, Designing and Political artistry! Nathan was inspired to create Queer Connect to celebrate the amazing talents of LGBTQ+ Melbourne Creatives and connect younger queer people with positive examples of successful queer artists! Outside of Queer Connect Nathan has walked runways, modelled for ad campaigns, music videos and editorials and designed and made props, garments and headpieces.

As one of the 13 members of Queer Connects first campaign “CHOOSING LOVE” you can get to know Nathan more in depth through her artist page.

Carlin John Stephenson (He/Him) is a Hyderabad-born Artist, based in Naarm. His focus is on the underrepresented, rich and colourful stories of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC folk with the mission of highlighting and uplifting the respective communities, making him the perfect photographer for the Queer Connect Collective family! After living his life on airplane mode for many years he’s finally following his passions of photography, film, music and dance. Carlin has photographed Fashion Week Runways, Ballroom events, worked on ad campaigns for local labels, created visuals for musicians and is now stepping into the world of film.

Image Credit; Mae Hartrick @Maartrick

Taylor Maree Medwin (She/Her) is a Tasmanian born, Naarm based queer artist with a fixation on the non conventional. The Hair and Makeup artist for Queer Connects first campaign “CHOOSING LOVE”, She is also a freelance Model as well as a self taught MUA and Stylist. From studying photography at the prestigious Victorian College of Arts she now prefers to be infront of the camera as opposed to behind. This has allowed her to perfrom through modelling, paint through makeup and sculpt through styling. Her work takes inspiration from many styles such as gothic and futuristic respectively while still leaving room to experiment and expand. She has worked on film sets, collaborative projects, fashion shows and with small businesses. She maintains a focus on working closely with other artists to cultivate originality and perfect artistic visions.

Angel Llerena (She/Her) is a Peruvian/Indian, bisexual woman located in Naarm. Her creative work embraces and celebrates different POC and LGBTQIA+ individuals and experiences highlighting beautiful stories and uplifting voices that are commonly silenced and misrepresented. Angel made her first gallery debut in 2020, with her photographic series “Cultural Appropriation: Haven’t You Colonised Enough?”. Angel conducted the interview process for Queer Connect and is also passionate about both advertising and fashion! When not directing her own projects she enjoys shooting content for Naarm based fashion brands and can’t wait to grow her talents in photography and beyond with plans to delve into other mediums such as videography.