Photography - Forgetting and Remembering

     

Carol and Susan - Friends

Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians by JEB - 1978

    Jan Zita Grover, ‘Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs’ (1991) is an article that focuses on the portrayal in photographs and questions whether what is being represented is reality or the maker’s perception. Grover begins with an experience that she had with a friend that she helped put an exhibition together. The exhibition was in support of the local government and highlighted Nicaraguan people in their communities. Grover tells how her friend rejected photographs made by Nicaraguans and Cubans in favor of photographs made by North Americans and Europeans. Mainly because the photos by the Nicaraguan and Cubans showed laughing children and smiling peasants and the friend did not want to show something so sentimental. Grover explains that by denying the photos of the Nicaraguans and Cubans, her friend was denying their aspirations and needs on how they wanted to be seen in their own communities. Grover rambles on throughout the article about remembering and forgetting with images in particular categories such as beauty products and romantic comedies. She talks about the importance of all things that is related to an image whether negative or positive. But ultimately she compares the Nicaraguan images to lesbian photos captured during the 1970s and 1980s era. 

    Grover explains initially lesbian images were often a depiction of women that would be socially respectable. The photographs showed white women with pets, house plants, and furniture. Basically making lesbians as relatable as possible. I believe that lesbian photos were initially represented in this manner because they wanted to be accepted and legitimized among the heterosexual communities. However, Grover explains that these initial genres of photos equally forgot a component of the lesbian communities and that is who the people are in their sexual relationships. The strategy was often to downplay the sexual component in the lesbian community. In fact, one photographer mentioned in the article had some pretty hot stuff of sex and lesbians but never released it to the public because he felt that the communities were not ready for it. However, according to Grover, by not representing sex in lesbian photos, they forgot sex in this category. Much like how the photos of smiling children and laughing peasants that were purposely left out at the Nicaraguan exhibition. I felt that Grover made an excellent argument and that often what is portrayed in photographs is not truly reality. Photographs are displayed to the public for a particular purpose. To make the viewer see a subject in a particular way. For instance, Grover talks about how photographs promoted in the North American and European cultures display marriage, family photos and glamorize this type of lifestyle. As if it is the only life that white people live, forgetting the subcultures and other components of American and European cultures: poverty, sickness, homosexuals, or transvestites). 

    I want to share two photos for my blog. I've selected two images of a lesbian couple. One of the current times, Carol and Susan, characters of a show called Friends, and a 1978 photograph of a lesbian couple gazing into the eyes of each other. I highlighted both because I admire the love that is portrayed in each. Although media has forgotten some components of the lesbian community such as their sexuality, I feel that the love often portrayed between a couple is beautiful. Love is one of the most wonderful things that can be represented and anyone can connect to that aspect.  

Sources:

“23 Of the Most Iconic LGBT Characters in Pop Culture History.” More, July 10, 2019. https://www.more.com/celebrity/movies-tv/23-most-iconic-lgbt-characters-pop-culture-history/.

AnOther. “Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians by Jeb.” AnOther. Accessed November 12, 2021. https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/gallery/11569/eye-to-eye-portraits-of-lesbians-by-jeb/5.

Tessa Boffin and Jean Fraser (eds), Stolen Gla11ces: Lesbians Talw PhotolJraphs (London: Pandora Press, 1991),"pp . 184- 90.