RENEGADES: SAN FRANCISCO, THE 1990S
While pursuing my degree in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1990s, I began documenting a generation of young, self-identified queers in the Mission District. Rent was affordable, and gay youth, outcasts, artists, and free spirits migrated to San Francisco to find one another. The sense of community was palpable as a queer cultural renaissance unfolded. Bars, clubs, tattoo shops, galleries, cafes, bookstores, and women-owned businesses proliferated. A new wave of feminism embraced gender bending, and butch/femme culture flourished.
I was impressed by the collective creativity, support, pride, and strident defiance of cultural norms. This subculture emerged against the backdrop of mainstream society. All shot on 35mm film, my photographs from this vibrant era connect current and future generations to the pulse of the city during a unique time when difference and homecoming were unapologetically celebrated.
The images here are a small selection of the thousands of photographs this project comprises.
