"The Dyke Show" by JEB

By

JEB (aka Joan E. Biren)

For the first time in 39 years, JEB (aka Joan E. Biren) gave a live presentation of the restored version of her original epic slide show titled The Dyke Show, with a new introduction and epilogue. The event was presented at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City in partnership with the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art on February 9th.

In her own words: 

"Being Seen Makes A Movement Possible - that is and always has been [my] ethos. For more than 50 years, I have extensively documented lesbian lives, from intimate at-home shots, to front-lines, grassroots organizing and movement work animated by a fierce and loving commitment to breaking down hierarchy and power. This is evident not only in my photographic practice, which questions and queries photographic ideas of 'capture' and 'subject,' but also in my commitment to making these images as public and accessible as possible." 

 

JEB

During the 1970s and 1980s, JEB’s images were everywhere: in LGBTQ+ books, newspapers calendars, posters and postcards. She also brought her work to the public through narrated, informational and humorous slideshow presentations. From 1979-1984, JEB performed The Dyke Show more than 80 times to packed audiences at community spaces and universities across the US and Canada. Originally titled Lesbian Images in Photography: 1850–1984, the show includes portraits, documentary and erotic images by historic and contemporary photographers ranging from Alice Austen and Berenice Abbott to Tee Corinne and Leigh Mosley. JEB’s narration is a unique fusion of art history, activist inspiration and stand-up comedy.

For those of us who were lucky enough to be in the room for this event, the female energy was palpable. Lesbian celebrities such as Kate Clinton, Lola Flash, Ann Northrop, et al were present. The large hall on the third floor was filled to the rafters, and there was an overflow room downstairs where the event was livestreamed.

Photo by Clementina Hawarden


JEB narrated the steady stream of slides of photographs portraying lesbians, the earliest being by Clementina Hawarden (1822-1865). We then saw photographs of lesbians taken through the centuries, with some of the more famous subjects being Natalie Clifford Barney, Tee Corinne, and Romaine Brooks.

Natalie Clifford Barney
In introducing the work, JEB spoke of researching the material in libraries, and finding countless numbers of references to "war" in the card catalogs. References to lesbian photography was minimal. During this talk, the words "Promote Lesbian Visibility!" appeared on the screen.

It was especially gratifying to see so many young women in the audience, students who volunteered to assist in the production. They are learning about our foremothers in ways that I had not been able to as a student.

Recently I had blogged about a so-called lgbtq+ national political organization hosting its annual fundraising dinner in New York ("Are We Becoming the Enemy?"). By contrast, the male energy at that event was nothing at all like the energy I felt last night at The Center. Here the women were helpful, cooperative, supportive, and yes, loving. The gay men (and drag queens!) at the fundraising dinner were hostile, combative, belligerent, and arrogant. Don't make the mistake of assuming that an organization which calls itself lgbtq+ actually cares about lesbians. The misogyny is real!



During the afterparty at Henrietta Hudson's, I spoke with one of the organizers/presenters from the Leslie-Lohman Museum. She told me that the museum is receiving hate mail from gay men complaining about the "trans" content on display. Hate mail?! From gay men??! It seems our planet is reeling from a temporary - hopefully - overflow of testosterone, or, destructive masculine energy. We need look no further than Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

JEB's work is included in Leslie-Lohman's upcoming exhibit, Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s, which is co-organized with the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati. Curated by Ariel Goldberg, Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s, explores the intersection of activism, education and media production in grassroots movements and will be on view at the Contemporary Arts Center until February 12, 2023. It will then travel to the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art and be on view from March 10 until July 30, 2023.

JEB also provided us with a printed bibliography with the names of over a hundred lesbian photographers, and the sources of reproductions of their work. Thank you, JEB!

                        

Nina Kennedy is a concert pianist, orchestral conductor, and award-winning filmmaker. She holds a master’s degree from the Juilliard School. Her memoir, Practicing for Love, is a 2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalist. The sequel, Practice What You Preach, is available at infemnity.com/shop.


Nina Kennedy is a concert pianist, orchestral conductor, and award-winning filmmaker. She holds a master’s degree from the Juilliard School. Her memoir, "Practicing for Love," is a 2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalist.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Khatia Buniatishvili: Beyoncé of Piano?

By
Image
Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili April Gibson and Nina Kennedy both contributed to this article to share their respective insights and opinions. April grew up listening to Hip Hop, Pop,  R&B,  and Hair Bands. Nina, herself a classical pianist, grew up listening to jazz and R&B, as well as symphonies and opera. Nina: While living in Paris I got in the habit of watching the news channel “France24,” and was delighted to find that I continued having access to France24 here in Manhattan. Now that most American news channels have become The Trump Show, I became more dependent on France24 to be able to hear some authentic international news. One day this summer while going about my business with the TV on, I heard the news anchor announce a feature story on “The Beyonc é  of the Piano.” I stopped what I was doing to sit down and watch. The subject of this segment was world-renowned Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, who has been referred to ...
Read more

Where Was James Baldwin's Boyfriend?

By
Image
James Baldwin As we are nearing the end of Black History Month, I find myself reading and listening to the words of James Baldwin. He became one of the most articulate voices of the Civil Rights Movement, yet it is hard to find any description or discussion - in his own words - of his life as a gay man. One could guess that he describes some of his gay life in the novel Giovanni's Room , which can easily be dismissed as a work of fiction. We know that he met the man who became the love of his life, Lucien Happersberger, in Paris in 1949, when Lucien was 17 and James was 25. The fact that Lucien was white could have served as proof that, at least in Baldwin's mind, black men and white men could love each other. But unfortunately, Baldwin chose to remain in the closet, using references to "... my wife" and "... my woman, my children..." in his interviews. The truth is, the most significant woman in his life was his mother, and the children he referred to were ...
Read more

Don Shirley, "Green Book," and Me

By
Image
I finally got the chance to sit down and watch the Oscar-winning film Green Book , on the life of African American concert pianist Don Shirley . As I had written in an earlier blog ( "Ebony and Ivory: A Dissonant Truth" ), I had visited with Dr. Shirley in his apartment above Carnegie Hall when my parents were in New York with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The film gave a very accurate depiction of his home and the extravagant, ostentatious décor. The Real Don Shirley in his home Don Shirley was praised early in his life as a genius, a wunderkind whose forte was the traditional classical repertoire. Composer Igor Stravinsky said of him: "His virtuosity is worthy of Gods." But his record label forced him to play jazz, and sent him on tour with a jazz trio. In an interview, Shirley said that his record label wanted him to appear in overalls with a red bandana around his neck on the album cover. He refused. In my own book I have written about facing racism as an African Am...
Read more

Anne Gamble Kennedy (Not to be found on Wikipedia!)

By
Image
Since Wikipedia refuses to publish this article because they claim, "The subject's references do not adequately show the subject's notability," I am publishing it myself. I'd like to see any of those editors try to survive as a Black female in the American South during the 1940s and 50s. Anne Gamble's accomplishments are notable as HELL! Anne Gamble Kennedy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Anne Gamble Kennedy  (25 September 1920 – 11 June 2001) was an American classical  pianist , piano professor, and accompanist for the  Fisk Jubilee Singers  of  Nashville, Tennessee . Anne Gamble Kennedy Contents      1 Early life 2 Career 3 Selected discography 4 Notes Early life Anne Lucille Gamble was born in  Charleston, West Virginia  to Dr.  Henry Floyd Gamble  and the former Nina Hortense Clinton of Zanesville, Ohio. She was the younger of two children born to that union. She also had two o...
Read more

Bradley Cooper's "Maestro": Ho-Hum! Another Movie About White People

By
Image
  Granted, most Hollywood films about American celebrities of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s are going to be about white people. But in a film about Leonard Bernstein, there were several opportunities to tell the story about Lenny marching with Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama, or Lenny introducing young André  Watts to the world concert stage, or even Lenny conducting Marian Anderson with the Israel Philharmonic. But no. The producers of Maestro chose to ignore the existence of African Americans, except when Bernstein's wife, Felicia (portrayed by Carey Mulligan), needed a nurse more than an hour and forty-five minutes into the film. At the very end, Bernstein directs his drunken, romantic attention toward a young black male conducting student, whom he had just instructed in a conducting master class. I suppose this young conducting student represented the future of classical music. But for a people who had been so discriminated against after the Second World War that young Ber...
Read more

Juilliard Covers Its Ass

By
Image
On April 23rd, I received an email from the Juilliard Alumni Association director. In it was an email from the president of the school addressing an issue concerning a workshop conducted by the Drama Division. Evidently, the Drama Division invited a guest lecturer who conducted a workshop on the African American experience during slavery. In the words of President Woetzel to students, faculty, and staff:       "I write to you to address a September 2020 Drama Division workshop that has impacted our school community. While I am s haring a message below that was sent to the drama community by Evan Yionoulis, dean and director of the Drama Division, I believe it is important for our school community to hear directly from me.      To live our values requires an acknowledgment of mistakes we have made. To that end, I want to state unequivocally that this workshop was ill-conceived and should not have occurred in the manner that it did. I extend a heartfelt ...
Read more

Love, Like Music: A Review of Nina Kennedy's "Practicing for Love: A Memoir" by Dean and Petra Aldrich

By
Image
Love, Like Music A joint review by Dean and Petra Aldrich of Practicing for Love , Nina Kennedy’s richly detailed and frank memoir. “For those in the world of classical music, Kennedy’s book is a winner. Her musical talent and technical achievements are obvious to anyone familiar with the works in her repertoire. Moreover, her descriptions of the challenges she faced as a Black woman in classical music provide essential, timely, and pointed critiques of the field. Musicians, composers, conductors – take note!” - Dean Aldrich, father, trained concert pianist, teacher of music and history, and graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in piano performance and music education (Bachelor and Master degrees). “Kennedy’s memoir provides fascinating and essential insights into lesbian history and the experiences of lesbians in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s. Truly, the value of this opportunity to see such a pivotal period in LGBTQ+ history through Black and lesbian...
Read more

The Fisk Jubilee Singers at the Kennedy Center

By
Image
Matthew Kennedy directing the Fisk Jubilee Singers of 1971-72 Again for posterity (since all of the articles appearing in this blog can be found online in perpetuity), here is the review of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. as it appeared in Down Beat Magazine in 1972. It is listed in the Down Beat magazine archives . 
Read more