Particular Voices - Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers (Hardcover)

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 an extensive photographic record of the gay and lesbian literary community. 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 travelled 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 gay/lesbian experience in the United States since the 1920s.