“Just as society and culture continue to evolve, I too continue to blaze new trails in personal growth, acceptance and freedom - and with this body of work, celebrate the many facets of what it means to be queer and a member of this extraordinary queer community.”
Q U E E R
The summer of 2019 marked 50 years since the pivotal events at the Stonewall Inn in 1969 - when New York's queer community stood up to say “no more” to the discrimination and bullying to which it had previously been accustomed. It wasn't the first time in history that a group of queer people had ruffled some feathers in the name of defending themselves and their rights, but it certainly became one of the most notable. It was the spark that ignited the idea of what we now know as “gay pride” and the modern equality movement. This, the first pride, was a riot.
It would also be the first time in its short history that WorldPride, the periodic International demonstration of LGBTQIA+ equality, would be held in the U.S. The combination of the two historic events would amount to the largest queer event in history.
Documenting it visually was an idea spawned in the months prior, drawing inspiration from the work of Tom Bianchi in “Fire Island Pines.” To me, Bianchi’s iconic body of work is a complex glimpse into what were the formative coming-of-age years of the queer movement, and that he did it with Polaroid lent it a distinct period-appeal and raw grit. I’ve always loved Polaroid as a medium and have used it for very specific artistic purposes — rarely to document or as socio-political commentary — but it felt appropriate for this as it explores all three.
Bianchi’s images from Fire Island actually came a bit later, 1975 to 1983. The emulation of his work in the context of today’s queer community felt an appropriate way to represent how far we’ve progressed in terms of liberation and evolution, while preserving the constants like the undertone of a taboo queer refuge — separate from society at large — much like Fire Island at that time.
The imperfect nature, muted color palette and vintage feel of Polaroid meant I could depict 2019’s version of queer culture in the visual parlance of this turning point in queer history. It starkly contrasts today's endless iphoneography, with each image requiring careful consideration and craft, while capturing a unique moment in time, each image just as the whole. The focus on the personal, humanistic elements in this work is a deliberate effort to see the community not from the bird’s eye view but closely, personally and intimately.
The juxtaposition of historical text and intimate personal photography aligns the eras in a way I’ve never done before - drawing from the rich trove of eras past to share an honest picture of a week in our shoes.
©WILLIAMCLICKENGER2024