Kitty Tsui, from Portraits of Lesbian Writers, 1987-1989
Robert Giard started photographing gay and lesbian writers throughout the United States in 1985 and, by the mid-90s, had amassed over 500 author portraits, capturing some of the era’s most voices, such as Alan Ginsberg and Dorothy Allison. Giard wanted to document the existence and triumph of these marginalized people who worked so tirelessly within a society largely ignorant to or resentful of their influence.
Before approaching an author, Giard would immerse himself in his or her work. Then, after ”a period of personal exchange and contact,” he’d arrange to travel to wherever the author wanted their picture taken (most charged their homes). 182 of the portraits appear in Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers.
Needless to say, I was excited to discover that 203 of the portraits are actually archived online at the New York Public Library’s Digital Gallery, and to kick off “The Way We Were”/Herstory Month, here are some of our favorite ladies from the photos Giard took in the late 80s.
oh wow some history
(via str-crssd)
![extranjero:
I found this comment of this clip on youtube:
I don’t mean anything by it, but just to put my two cents in, I’ve seen a few movies that were made between the 1920’s-1950’s which included quick pecks on the lips between women. The characters were usually close relatives or friends. (In the movie ‘Little Women’ with Katharine Hepburn, when her character ‘Jo’ kisses her mother good night in one scene, the mother kisses Jo on the mouth, but like I said, it was more of a peck.) I just see it as feminine affection, nothing else. ^_^
This is how queer women’s history gets lost, by being shoved under the rug as nothing more than “feminine affection.” Same-sex erotic desire among women poses a threat to heteronormative society. Calling it “feminine affection” inherently removes that threat— the threat of its existence, the threat of deviance, the threat of women not needing men sexually or romantically— and lets people sleep easily at night, not having to imagine how two women could possibly fuck. And in this particular commentary, not only is Queen Christina’s real erotic desire towards women being erased but so is Greta Garbo’s [and Katharine Hepburn’s]. A bunch of people have liked this comment and probably many more have read it and considered it factual, and it’s bullshit. I have more feelings about this but yeah.
TLDR: Here is a decidedly queer moment captured on film, and I will not let a heteronormativie reading of women’s history take that from me.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzpqy7gngP1qcl8alo1_500.gif)
