Debbie Grossman has created a series wherein Russell Lee’s classic Farm Security Administration photographs of Pie Town, New Mexico, are variously manipulated and curated so that the place is reimagined as a sort of lesbian utopia (yes, yes—honest to God, “Pie Town” was the real, original name).

Jack Whinery, homesteader, with his wife and the youngest of his five children, Pie Town, New Mexico.
  • “Jack Whinery, homesteader, with his wife and the youngest of his five children, Pie Town, New Mexico.”
Jessie Evans-Whinery, homesteader, with her wife Edith Evans-Whinery and their baby. From My Pie Town.
  • “Jessie Evans-Whinery, homesteader, with her wife Edith Evans-Whinery and their baby.” From My Pie Town.

Modified version FTW.

See more of Grossman’s Pie Town here.* Look here, to the Library of Congress, for Lee’s originals.

*My Pie Town, part of the program Women in Photography NYC, is up through January 31 at Julie Saul Gallery, on THE BEST COAST. Wait. That wordplay doesn’t work, does it?

14 replies on “More in “Archival” Gay Photos”

  3. I don’t care for doctored photos, or dopey political statements disguised as doctored photos. But thanks for the link to the original Library of Congress archive of Pie Town slides, which is absolutely incredible.

  6. Retouching photographs of individuals in this context is an act of vandalism against the subject and the photographer. I wouldn’t want somebody messing with my grandmas old pictures to label her a lesbian any more than I’d want somebody editing a picture of me in 70 years to label me straight.

  10. Also, retouching couple photos is an interesting juxtaposition. Usually, it’s the straight fundies who want to tell you who they’d like to see you with.

  12. Interesting project.

    This is the first time I’ve seriously contemplated the concept of “lesbian utopia”, and I must confess, as a man it’s creepy/scary to fantasized into nonexistence.

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