Artist Spotlight: Alix Smith

Nik, maybe I'm a simple heterosexual, but I think you're reading too much into this. I think these pix are great, the families portrayed look just that--like families. Why can't they just be photographs of people, because that's all that we all are. Maybe some of the subjects look uncomfortable because they're trying to pose! Just like the rest of us that aren't models, it's very hard to look natural if you're not practiced. I think I look unconfortable in any attempt to pose in a photo, regardless of the environment. It might be just that easy.

I commend Alix for her work and desire to provide a visual depiction of gay/lesbian families. The fact that everyone has such strong opinions about this work says to me that she's absolutely right - no one is documenting this segment of the population. She wouldn't have to be everything to everyone if there were other artists tackling the same subject matter. To complain that there are no dirty kids coming in from soccer or greasy bull dykes just says that you didn't read the article. The compositions are based on classical paintings. Perhaps we'll be lucky enough that Alix will continue photographing the gay/lesbian community under a different project that will explore the community further.

I agree very much much with Tony from NY - imagine the photos as paintings/pictures from a different era showing family life. some look like they could be in Architectural Digest....featured couple.....These pictures plug into familiar and more formal looking shapes than the average photo today - more like a photo taken with film that had to be more planned - because you couldn't just erase the digital image. In the past - portraits were a big formal deal because - you know, it might be the only picture of you that existed. The formality of these photos works for me because - for a second it reminds me of a painting from the 1800's - or a photo from the 1950s, but with modern people. What makes this even cooler - as Tony pointed out - is that those - traditional works - gay couples and their families would not have been featured. It would have been the Duke and Duchess of so and so and fido....or Ward and June Cleaver with baby....and so on. I love this pic!

Fantastic work! What I perceive Ms. Smith achieves with these photographs is a wink to the heterosexual community, "See? We can be just like you?" Her models take the poses of the male/female counterparts from the conventional paintings and Ms. Smith artfully adds her own point of view (as every skillful artist does). Some of them are whimsical, some of them are touching and some of them are peculiar...just like the HUMAN race.

Though I'm sure the intentions are in the right place, the bad thing about any form of art is that everyone is entitled to their opinion. Some homosexual couples do look like this, but is this really how we want to be represented to those who may never come in contact with a homosexual couple? It makes us look as if we really just want to pass as a straight couple. I hate to say it but we are not straight. That's part of what makes us who we are. Where is the pride in our difference? Most of these couples feel uncomfortable and even a bit fake. The idea is to make a realistic view for future generations to feel comfortable with when a kid in the middle of no where who knows nothing about being in a gay couple sees this will they feel comfortable with themselves or will they loathe themselves? You can't represent everyone, but really think about the harm that can be caused by a bad representation.

Tom Stoppard: I empathize and I too have been gay-bashed by the office suits; only in was in downtown Albuquerque where I lived for 13 years. I now am on my way back east. Even though New Jersey & New York did not get marriage bills passed, that area of New England is still relatively (and I say that with your cautionary tale on record) safer than say: Oklahoma. There are so few places for us to be "us" in public. All of us like to believe that being a queer is okay. It still is NOT safe. I urge all of us to be careful and alert out in public. Even if we are trying to be an activist an "out" visible queer, history shows that violence is still aimed against people who are different. I cannot stand it when one of us is killed or even just beat up for being themselves. And, I loved the "Normal" mis-spelling of Norman, OK!! It is pretty normal here, and I have not felt scared even once for being a lesbian.

Just a caution to Raven in Normal, OK, I've been gay-bashed in the West Village in New York twice, and both times had to be hospitalized, and I wasn't even holding hands with anyone, I was walking by myself minding my own business. The West Village is the playground for the BTT crowd (bridge, tunnel and train) from the other boroughs, Staten Island, NJ, Long Island . . . It's where they go to party without accountability, and it's also apparently where they act out their aggressions. I was also taunted on Park Avenue South at 17th Street, just north of Union Square where Andy Warhol's studio was when I was walking hand-in-hand with my partner at the time (about 10 yrs. ago). Hopefully things have changed. Perhaps Smith's photographs will reach some and serve to educate them, making them less fearful and disdainfull of the unknown. In the meantime, caution is advised.

Lesbian Friendly and Gay friendly should ultimately be defined as: "Can two people of the same sex walk hand in hand in the street and kiss in public, just like any hetero couple?" And this couple cannot consist of one of the lesbians looking so much like a guy that she could pass or one of the gay guys in drag as a female. I'm talking two OBVIOUS same sex people. So, if that is the complete criteria(which I feel is what should be the only criteria) then the ONLY places I can vouch for in the USA that I have been to where I can behave on the public sidewalks in a crowded scenario are as follows: Provincetown, Mass. and Key West, Florida, and the Village part of NYC. I currently live and work in Norman, OK. Norman is the ONLY city(it is considered a "small" city) in Oklahoma where one can even feel relatively safe as a queer in Oklahoma. Yes, I agree with the "sluts" totally( I have had such a dyke whore past) that ANYWHERE can be a playground for sexual encounters.

Where are the single lesbian mothers?and their children? Where are the single gay fathers?and their children? Where are the poor gay and lesbian couples and their children and pets? Where are the unconventional families with more than one partner who for obvious reasons cannot get married anywhere? Where are the 24/7/365 Leather Families? Where are the working class families? Where are the gay and lesbian people who are very closeted and have a"cover husband" or "cover wife" in addition to the actual same sex pair? Get REAL!!!! These photos are fake looking and unrealistic. We need to see the kids in dirty, mudsoaked clothes coming in from soccer practice. We need to see the Bull dyke coming home from the blue collar job in some factory all covered in grime to her sweetie who has been with the kids all day. I do not approve of this type of sanitized family life for even the heterosexual community. Life is messy. And...WE are "fringe-folk"even on the best of days.

I think her ideas and reasoning behind the shoot were beautiful, and the technical aspects of lighting and such were spot-on with what she wanted to represent, but what kind of ruins it for me is how most of the models look so stiff, awkward, and contrived. I think it just sticks out more to me because I used to work training amateur models, and I know the subjects don't do this professionally, but the style/directed poses really highlighted this weakness. Meant as constructive criticism rather than discouragement of course, as the photographer is absolutely right there is a need for visibility in art.