Peter Hujar’s Eyes Open in the Dark is on show at the Raven Row Gallery
Eyes Open in the Dark is a stunning exhibition of photography by Peter Hujar.
In LGBT+ History Month it is a reminder of the emergence of a vibrant LGBT+ culture in the 1970s and 1980s in New York and how it was devastated by HIV/Aids.
Hujar’s photography finds its intensity in the personal, in particular the portraits of the people who inhabited the LGBT+ scene in Greenwich Village.
The photographs capture the free spaces that had been created by the Stonewall riots of 1969. After the riots, LGBT+ people could become the focus of the camera in a way not possible before. These were new times, with new attitudes and ways of living.
Hujar created the first poster for the Gay Liberation Front, the radical organisation that fought against homophobia in a new political world. A fight for sexual liberation and a proud assertion of LGBT+ identity was taking shape.
There are some beautiful photographs of the people who crowded the Christopher Street West pier, hoping to be part of the action. A young Marsha P Johnson features smiling proudly in some of the pictures. Johnson was one of the leaders of the Stonewall Riots.
Hujar’s photographs capture a newfound freedom for LGBT+ people. But Hujar also wanted to push the boundaries.
Some of the photographs represent unexplored areas of sexuality. There are striking images of male nudity, masturbation and gay sexuality that challenge ideas about what is allowed.
Hujar’s best-known photograph is of Warhol’s protege Candy Darling on her death bed. It is a shocking but beautiful image of transgender pride and defiance.
The collection becomes darker in subject matter in the 1980s. The first recorded evidence of AIDS in the United States was in 1981. The decade saw the LGBT+ community devastated first by the deaths from the disease, then by the rampant homophobic hatred that the right whipped up.
This was compounded by the US government’s refusal to fund care or deal with the tragedy humanely. Hujar died of AIDS in 1987.
One of the most striking images in the collection is a triptych of photographs that show Hujar on his death bed.
It is both a shocking portrayal of suffering and a defiant stare against the bigoted and heartless attitudes of homophobia and transphobia.
Hujar saw through the darkness of the era to represent its truth.
Michael Dance
- Eyes Open in the Dark, Raven Row Gallery, E1 until 6th April
Hope lies in hard truths about the nuclear family
Hard Truths is an engaging portrayal of a black British working class family with a protagonist who is in equal parts dislikeable and sympathetic.
Marianne Jean‑Baptiste gives a powerful performance as Pansy, a wife and mother who is consumed with rage at the “cheerful, grinning people” she encounters.
Some complaints are funny and relatable. But it becomes hard to watch Pansy go about her day berating everyone from a supermarket worker to a sofa salesperson. All of them are younger women just trying to do their jobs.
Pansy is no happier at home. She is ignored by her taciturn husband and unemployed adult son until dinner is ready. Pansy obsesses over keeping the house clean to maintain some control.
The only person who hasn’t given up on Pansy is her sister Chantelle, played by Michele Austin. Chantelle owns a hair salon and lives in a warm and happy flat with her adult daughters. She is not interested in “settling down” with a male partner.
The drama reaches a climax when Chantelle initiates a visit to their mother’s grave. She wants Pansy to open up about her childhood and marital problems.
There is a strong sense that any hope for women lies outside the nuclear family, with women friends and relatives. Perhaps the hardest truth is where this leaves the male characters.
Neither Pansy’s husband nor their son Moses seem less miserable than her, yet they have a far tougher time communicating this.
The film never descends into despair. There is a path out—at least for the younger generation as Moses meets a kind stranger in an unlikely place.
Ruby James
- Hard Truths, directed by Mike Leigh is on general release
