Personal Brand Photography
Social Media Content Creation
Photo Laureate Exhbition: ALT TAMPA
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The St. Petersburg Month of Photography Photo Laureate program celebrates photography, creativity, and the local artists shaping the visual identity of St. Petersburg and the greater Tampa Bay area.
As the 2025 Photo Laureate, I was given the opportunity to document life in Tampa Bay as I see it. My vision included highlighting the alt scene of Tampa Bay through a vibrant and expressive portrait exhibition featured at The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts.
THIS IS ALT TAMPA
artist statement
Beneath Tampa Bay’s polished, tourist-facing identity lies a vibrant underground shaped by decades of music, creativity, and subculture. Long considered a global hub for death metal, the region has fostered a network of communities (goths, punks, ravers, and others) who have built a city within a city grounded in self-expression and belonging.
With ALT TAMPA, 2025 Photo Laureate Jesi Cason captures this largely unseen world through bold, expressive portraits. Her work honors individuals who embody an alternative history of the region while confronting the growing pressures of development that threaten these spaces.
Vivid, expressive, and deeply personal, Cason’s images celebrate the courage to live authentically and to define identity on one’s own terms.
