Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers (Studies reader & GLQ: a journal of lesbian & gay studies) Book

foreword by Julia VanHaaften "Particular Voices is an extraordinary achievement. These portraits and words of writers who so often have been silenced provide an exquisite visual and written record of courage." -- Barbara Smith, Writer and Activist "Like August Sander who chronicled the citizens of Germany's modern world, Bob Giard has crafted an eloquent taxonomy of those gay and lesbian writers whose collective voice has proclaimed the joy, anguish, and determination of queer America. Giard has given gay history a memorable and poignant kaleidoscope of photographic portraiture." -- Thomas Sokolowski, Director, The Andy Warhol Museum In 1985, photographer Robert Giard set out to create an archive of portraits of gay and lesbian writers from across the United States. His intention was to present visible evidence of their presence in our culture, to attest to their particular voices. The result is the most extensive photographic record of the gay and lesbian literary community ever undertaken. This book contains 182 of the more than 500 portraits Giard has made. The collection underscores the diversity of the gay population and encompasses a broad range of literary genres: fiction, poetry, drama, personal narrative, history, criticism, and political/activist statements. Before approaching each subject, Giard immersed himself in the writer's work. Then, after a period of personal exchange and contact between Giard and the writer, Giard traveled to the personal setting, most often the writer's home, where the photograph was to be taken. Usually he worked with the existing light he found there. Each portrait in the book reflects the subtle transaction between the photographer and the writer, who both withholds and presents in varying degrees. For Giard, existing-light portraiture mirrors that exchange, as the subject simultaneously recedes into shadow and emerges into the light. In the book, each portrait faces an excerpt of the writer's work, chosen by Giard in consultation with the writer. Taken as a whole, the portraits and excerpts encompass the many-faceted history of the the gay/lesbian experience in the United States over the past seventy-five years. The book also features a foreword by Julia VanHaaften, Curator of Photographs at the New York Public Library; an introduction by Giard, "Self-Portrait of a Gay Reader"; an essay by Christopher Bram on gay writing; and an essay by Joan Nestle on lesbian writing.Read More