79 year old Miami-native  photographer Charles Hashim has been capturing images of the city  through the decades as it has exploded from being a sleepy seaside resort into a full-loving thriving metropolis that has long welcomed free-spirited and diverse cultures and sexualities. The struggle at times was real ……remember Anita Bryant! …… but what Hashim caught so successfully through his lens was the start of the old prejudices beginning to break down.

Now there is a new book being published by local non-profit Letter16 Press that celebrates his rather stunning work called We Are Everywhere and We Shall Be Free: Charles Hashim’s Miami 1977-1983.  It includes images shot at a 1979 gay pride parade in which 2,000 people marched, and it was at that event that he captured the photograph that would appear on the cover of his book.  It’s of a  man carrying a drag queen in a dress and crown, and in the background a sign reads, “We are everywhere and we shall be free.“

On Thursday 20th April at 7 pm at Stonewall National Museum, Wilton Manors gallery, 2157 Wilton Dr., Wilton Manors, Florida 33305 Charles Hashim will be speaking about his work with journalist and Letter16 Press co-founder Brett Sokol as well as signing copies of his book.

Then on Saturday, April 22, 2017 11am-5pm at The 2017 Miami Zine Fair, University of Miami Lowe Art Museum, 1301 Stanford Dr., Coral Gables, Florida 33146, Charles Hashim will be at Letter16 Press able signing copies of his book at 3.30 pm.