Q & A / Rupaul Preface / Ash Kolodner -- Gayface coat of arms -- Portraits -- In conversation / Kimberly Peirce and Ash Kolodner -- Q & A / Rupaul
Summary:
From 2011 to 2015, Brooklyn-based photographer Ashley Kolodner (born 1987) traveled across the United States photographing hundreds of LGBTQIA+ individuals of all ages. She made two consecutive portraits of each of her subjects, photographing them twice during the same sitting: once with eyes closed and then with eyes open. These diptychs symbolize the vulnerability many have felt at the outset of discovering their personal identities, and then the realization and self-actualization manifest in the intimate and profound process of coming out. Through more than 180 color portraits, along with subject interviews and contributing texts by filmmaker Kimberly Peirce and Tony award-winning producer Jordan Roth, Gayface reflects the beauty, intimacy and sometimes the pain of a community kept in the shadows for decades. Ultimately these pictures and this handsome volume represent a revelatory statement on the profound humanity we all share.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.