Joan E. Biren: Using the language of visual art to reverse the history of invisibility

US-American photographer and activist Joan E. Biren (JEB) wanted to make lesbians seen. She started taking pictures of them in 1971 and created a body of 64.400 images. In 1979, at a time when coming out could mean losing one's job, home and children, and when publishers were rather reluctant to release anything containing the word "lesbian", she published the book "Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians", a book that is still considered to be groundbreaking since it was the first time lesbians were "candidly and unashamedly" represented in photography. Biren had decided to reverse the history of invisibility (via and via and via).

My purpose was to help build a liberation movement, and you can’t build a movement without being seen.
Joan Biren

 

(above:) Gloria and Charmaine, Baltimore, 1979

The book is a collection of portraits of queer women of different ages and different backgrounds doing everyday tasks. Biren developed her films herself in order to avoid confiscation under the so-called obscenity laws (via and via and via).

There wasn’t a book of photographs by a lesbian, of lesbians, with the word ‘lesbian’ on the cover that I could find anywhere in the world. Even though there were all these possible harmful consequences, the power of being out had huge rewards. The ability to live an open life lifted the heavy burden that came from hiding, and lying, and self-denial… Without the bravery of these women, there would be no book.
Joan E. Biren

I wanted people to find their friends and their lovers in the book so that they could feel reflected and affirmed. Representing the broadest range of lesbians I could was a conscious choice that grew out of my intersectional politics even though we didn’t have that term at the time.
Joan E. Biren

(above:) Priscilla and Regina, Brooklyn, 1979

It all started with a selfie she took of herself and her lover Sharon Deevey, a "revolutionary moment". Despite a rather strong feminist movement, lesbian life was not really included in feminist narratives. Using the language of visual art is an opportunity to "seek control and prevent erasure" for many queer activists. The camera becomes an ally, helps acknowledge aspects of one's identity and do both "proving existence and moving forward into the future". (via)

I wasn’t preoccupied with learning the conventions of photography or developing a personal style. I just wanted my images to embrace the energy I experienced being with lesbians. I was trying to develop an approach where the photographer and the person being photographed had equal power in the transaction. I was always making my photographs so that other lesbians could see them. What guides me is what I think is needed politically. That’s my creative practice.
Joan E. Biren

A photograph can bring heat to the desire to be more of yourself. Seeing something you may never have even imagined can move you to desire it so much that you’re moved to action. I want my images to act as ‘wicks of desire’; to make the idea of radical change irresistible.
Joan E. Biren

(above:) Barbara and Beverly, Roxbury, 1978

“You have to have joy in your life, or you won’t make it. Resistance is difficult work. You have to understand everything that is wrong in order to try and fix it. You need joy to keep going. Back then, we thought we could change the world. We saw ourselves as revolutionaries, and to do that, you have to be an optimist. We were also young and in love, and both of those things tend towards hopefulness. Ultimately, it’s what the movement achieves that protects us and lets us live our authentic lives.”
Joan E. Biren

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photographs via