you are part of something bigger than you
a curated archive of lesbian history between 1970-2000
Lesbian history is difficult to find. A combination of homophobia and misogyny disregards lesbian stories as unimportant. Even within queer research and history, it is difficult to find information on exclusively lesbian history. The lesbian history that is given attention is often reduced to singular pages within larger books, printed on the pages of books that went out of print 20 years ago, or is locked away deep within an archive. This piece seeks to rectify that.
This box is a portable exhibition and an educational piece. Consisting of over 30 found photos, 8 poems/book extracts and a reference book detailing them all, this piece aims to make lesbian history accessible. The prints inside are loose, so that they can be arranged to fit any space. This includes but is not limited to: exhibition walls, display cases or even just being placed along a table. Lesbian history deserves to be displayed and honoured, hence the photos being able to be exhibited. The photos exist to educate people, particularly lesbians, on lesbian history, and the act of putting them all in one place allows the box (and the exhibitions made from it) to serve as an easy starting point for the difficult task of researching lesbian history.
By turning found, historical photos into prints, this piece aims to make lesbian history tangible. Each photo is contextualised, with a name, photographer and date within the separate reference book. The reference book exists so that the prints can have no information on them, forcing the viewer to infer their own information before being told what the photos are of. The photographs are also placed alongside poems and quotes from lesbian writers of the time, to further add meaning to them. The entire collection of images and the book are stored within a box, for easy transport. Inside the box is a set of instructions on how it should be used.
