Joshua Lehrer
Tinaya and Family
, 2009
Cyanotype, platinum, and palladium print
20"
x 30"
The William’s Institute study of “homeless shelter
youth demographics” (2011-2012), reveals as many
as 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT. 46%
of those surveyed reported that they ran away from
home due to their family’s rejection of their sexual
orientation or gender identity, with 43% actively
forced out of their homes. New York’s rapidly
escalating homeless youth population consists of
transsexual or transgender teenagers, who suffer
the double burden: marginalized by society for
their low socioeconomic status and their gender
identity. Lehrer undertook this photographic series
hoping to give these teenagers a means of
expressing themselves. “I want to make the
world see them for who and what they are.”
Photographed with an antique camera, printed
by hand with an alternative process, they render
a beautiful tonal range.
| 26
Barbara Krohn
Mikveh Menorah
, 2009
Glazed stoneware
7"
x 16"
This group of women have just finished
mikveh
–
a ritual bath undertaken, in this particular
instance, by women who have completed their
menstrual periods and bathe in order to resume
sexual relations with their husbands. Using the
Hanukkah
menorah
,
with its associations of
history and holiness, Krohn celebrates the
sisterhood of women as they participate
in this ancient Jewish ritual.
Photograph by Roman Szechter
