From 1930s clandestine Mattachine Society meetings to the June 12 Castro candlelight vigil honoring the victims of the Orlando massacre, the 125 images in the new photography exhibit at the Harvey Milk Photo Center are a stunning chronicle of the LGBT movement in San Francisco. The exhibit, "LGBTQ Chronicled: 1933-2016," includes the work of several dozen photographers, from high school students to Pulitzer Prize winners, on view until July 16 at the Center, 100 Scott St., adjacent to Duboce Park.
The 75-year-old photo center, part of San Francisco's Recreation and Parks department, is headed by openly gay Dave Christensen, a photographer, designer, and teacher who has directed the center for the past six years. Before that, he taught classes there while running his own freelance photography business.
Christensen, who curated the exhibit, did a masterful last-minute job of expanding the exhibit when he heard the candlelight march in the Castro was scheduled less than a week before the opening of the show.
"I phoned and emailed all the photographers I know who I thought might be covering" the march, and asked them to submit some images for the show, said Christensen in an interview with the B.A.R. "The contrast of the secretive living-room meetings in the 1930s to the recent marches and parades is a reminder of how far we've come."
Photographers Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover have more than a dozen images in the show, all a part of their seven-year project, started in 1984, documenting the gay pride parade. The goal of their project, said Bromberger in an email to the B.A.R., was to "capture the love and commitment that we witnessed again and again by couples and by the community organizations" marching in the parade. The couple said they also wanted to "create a moving and heartfelt portrait" of the gay community through the parade.
The Hoovers said their goal was to "create a historical archive of what it was like when gays and lesbians had the courage to march peacefully, demanding their rights," and "how for one day during the year people could express their love for one another openly." The project can be seen in full on their website saulandsandra.photoshelter.com.
The couple, who are married and have been working together for over 25 years, have had their work published in Life magazine and Newsweek. They have done several other documentary photo projects about the LGBT community, including "Portraits of Caring: Living with AIDS" at the Bailey-Boushay House and "The Gay Prom: Portraits of LGBTQ Teens in Our New World."
Hal Fischer's photographs were originally published in the late 1970s, taken just after he arrived in San Francisco to pursue a master's degree in photography, he said. They were featured in Fischer's first solo exhibition at the defunct Lawson De Celle Gallery, and the following year published as a book by NFS Press that sold over 4,000 copies worldwide, and led to grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Fischer's work is featured on the website CherryandMartin.com, which calls his book "a cult classic field guide to gay style and expression explored through photographs of nude men standing in trees, sadomasochistic contraptions, and the correct way to do poppers." Last year, when the book was re-released, Fischer had solo exhibits in San Francisco, Zurich, and Berlin.
In an email to the B.A.R., Fischer said that two of his prints are on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the California and The West photo exhibition. Fischer said the museum owns much of his work and has included his photographs in a number of exhibitions over the years. Fischer also said that the Lawson de Celle Gallery "was in the forefront of showing gay work," including early works by Robert Mapplethorpe.
Bill Wilson's photo of Nancy Pelosi were taken in 2012, when she was among the elected officials who spoke at the Pink Triangle ceremony that takes place the Saturday of Pride weekend. In an email, Wilson said he has photographed the Pink Triangle ceremony for many years "because my Uncle Conrad was among those who helped evacuate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp" and witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust. "We can never forget the consequences of allowing our public policy to be based on fear and hatred." His website: billwilsonphotos.com
Hossein Sepas Carney has taken photos of the Pink Triangle commemoration for the past 19 years. In an email to the B.A.R., Carney said that his husband, Patrick Carney, is one of the organizers and a co-founder of the event.
"I sit in the front row and take photos of all of the speakers and the group photo that includes all the volunteers, dignitaries, and the band," he said. The picture in the Milk exhibit is from 2009, where actress Cloris Leachman is seen sitting in a chair waving at the camera, he said. More of his photographs can be seen on the Pink Triangle website (thepinktriangle.com) and have been published in the B.A.R. and other local newspapers.
Rick Gerharter, who has been taking photographs for the B.A.R. for almost three decades, has eight images in the Milk show. Most were taken on assignment from the B.A.R., he said, and are from the early part of his career. Two of the photos, noted Gerharter, are related to the AIDS Quilt, one a "head shot" of Cleve Jones, and the other a photo of the complete display of the quilt on the National Mall in Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument.
Gerharter became a photographer after spending nearly a year traveling throughout South America in the mid-1980s. This was also the time AIDS activism "took off," he said. "So there was lots of strong visuals and an international market for them," he said. Through his work with the B.A.R., Gerharter said he has "created a diverse body of work focused on the LGBT community."
David Ayllon was inspired to start "PostersForPulse.com" by the loss of "so many gorgeous Latino lives" in the Orlando tragedy. Ayllon is selling "drag portraits" as poster prints and donating all of the proceeds to victims, he said in an email.
Ayllon, a New Jersey-based graphic designer and photographer, has done a lot of work for Peaches Christ, and a photo of her in the Milk exhibit "came about after I told her I had just recently gotten into photography." The picture was taken while Peaches Christ was screening her film "All About Evil" in Pittsburgh. Many of Ayllon's friends were models in his "Posters for Pulse" series, he said.
"Photographing these drag queens has been a really fulfilling way to use my skills to give back to the LGBT community, and now using those same posters to help raise money for Pulse victims adds another layer to that," Ayllon said.
The photography exhibit is on display at the Harvey Milk Photo Center through July 16. The gallery is open Tues.-Thurs. from 4-9 p.m., and Sat. & Sun. from Noon-5 p.m. Info: harveymilkphotocenter.org