SF Bay Times Photographer Rink Featured in New York Exhibit

Three images taken by legend­ary San Francisco Bay Times pho­tographer Rink are featured in the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art exhibit, On the Domestic Front: Scenes of Every­day Queer Life. Curated by James M. Saslow, it runs through Oc­tober 25 and is at the museum’s SoHo location in New York City.

The exhibit’s theme is timely in a decade that has seen the unprece­dented mushrooming of same-sex marriage, child-rearing, and do­mesticity increase in acceptance both legally and socially. The thrust of queer politics, according to the exhibit’s or­ganizers, has shifted from asserting our right to be different and erotic toward demanding the right to do what every­one else does. Queer genre imagery is therefore a tool to secure what the organizers refer to as the “radicality of the ordinary.” The exhibit is divided into four primary themes: Home, Work, Play and Fantasy. “Home” presents domestic interiors and ev­eryday life: individuals, couples, and families in living rooms, bed­rooms, and bathrooms; as well as in “homes away from home,” such as hotels, motels, RVs, and hospi­tals.

“Work” focuses on the feminist goals of breaking down occupa­tional gender stereotypes and in­creasing access to employment and independence. “Play” in­cludes social and recreational activities and spaces from gyms and swimming pools to vacation homes, bars, clubs, and theatres. “Fantasy” depicts “social FAMSF scenes that are wished for in the mind rather than observed in the body.”

Rink is not the only Bay Area-based photographer whose works are fea­tured in the exhibit. Visitors can also see an image taken by renowned documentary photographer Cathy Cade. And, for those who cannot make it to New York, we are includ­ing Rink and Cade’s photos here.