The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition "Casa Susanna," on view from July 21, 2025 to January 25, 2026, brings together approximately 160 photographs and publications created by and for a community of cross-dressers who gathered in New York City and the Catskills Mountains during the 1960s. The works, discovered at a Manhattan flea market in 2004, document safe spaces provided by Susanna Valenti and Marie Tornell at two modest resorts, where guests used cameras—especially Polaroids—to affirm their femme identities and connect a nationwide community. The exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and Les Rencontres d’Arles in collaboration with The Met, and includes collections from the Art Gallery of Ontario, artist Cindy Sherman, and donor Betsy Wollheim.
This exhibition matters because it recovers a largely overlooked chapter of LGBTQ+ history, showing how photography served as a vital tool for identity affirmation and community building during an era of rigid gender roles. By presenting pre-Stonewall cross-dressing culture with new research into the double lives of its members, the show underscores museums' responsibility to preserve marginalized stories and offers historical context for contemporary transgender lives. The inclusion of the underground magazine "Transvestia" and the careful use of the term "cross-dressing" reflect evolving language and understanding around gender identity.