High Museum adds LGBTQ+ photographs to collection with new initiative

The High Museum of Art has informed its new LGBTQIA Photography Centennial Acquisition Initiative When Maria L Kelly the Assistant Curator of Photography at the High considered the museum s collection of over photographs she realized that in the museum s nearly years of building a photography collection LGBTQ artists had been underrepresented While I was going through all of our works and looking at themes and thinking about what exhibitions could happen and where we should be going with acquisitions I realized that we had inadvertently over the decades of collecting photography missed out on representing queer voices in the photo collection Kelly narrated Georgia Voice Nearly a year-and-a-half later the High has publicly released the four LGBTQ photographers whose works have been acquired through the initiative Peter Hujar known for his portraits capturing s and s New York Catherine Opie who first came to prominence in the s for her series of studio portraits depicting gay lesbian and trans people in her social circles Naima Greene an up-and-coming photographer capturing her own queer public of color and Martine Gutierrez a contemporary photographer celebrated her for self-portraits that question gender roles mainstream beauty standards and identity Clockwise from top left Naima Green American born It Lingers Sweet pigmented inkjet print High Museum of Art AtlantaPeter Hujar American Larry Ree Backstage III ca gelatin silver print High Museum of Art Atlanta Catherine Opie American born Pig Pen dye coupler print High Museum of Art Atlanta Martine Gutierrez American born Queer Rage Imagine Life-Size and I m Tyra p from Indigenous Woman chromogenic print High Museum of Art Atlanta Kelly hopes the initiative broadens the history of photography that the High is capturing in its collection and encourages connection and learning among visitors I inevitably think it s really crucial for people to be able to see themselves in a work to come in and be like Oh I recognize the subject matter or I recognize the story that s being explained here she disclosed But then I also want it to be the circumstance for the people who maybe don t identify in any kind of way to say Here s a story I didn t know about here s a worldview I didn t know about here s a history I had no idea about While Kelly says there are no plans for all these works to be exhibited together Green s It Lingers Sweet is at this time on display in Photography s New Vision Experiments in Seeing and there will be a new acquisitions exhibit next summer which will feature chosen of the initiative s other acquisitions Moving forward Kelly says she has a long wish list of other LGBTQ photographers to include in the collection and is working to raise funds to continue expanding the scope of the identities and experiences represented at the High To learn more and explore the High Museum s photography collection visit high org collection-area photography Related stories Amy Sherald s American Sublime exhibition coming to High Museum Fox Theatre receives Theater of the Year honor The post High Museum adds LGBTQ photographs to collection with new initiative appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta