The Getty Center in Los Angeles has opened a new exhibition, "Queer Lens: A History of Photography," coinciding with Pride Month amid rising political hostility toward LGBTQ+ communities. Curated by Paul Martineau over six years, the show features 300 photographs from the 19th century to the present, including works by Claude Cahun, Imogen Cunningham, and Peter Hujar, alongside anonymous and amateur images. A companion exhibition at the Getty Research Institute, "$3 Bill: Evidence of Queer Lives," displays printed ephemera from the Merrill C. Berman Collection, highlighting queer resistance and community-building.
This exhibition matters because it addresses the historical erasure of queer imagery due to censorship, social repression, and family destruction of records, such as under the Comstock Act of 1873. By recovering and presenting these photographs, the Getty Center affirms queer visibility and power, offering a timely cultural counterpoint to current political hostility. The show expands the photographic canon to include vernacular snapshots and drag portraits, demonstrating how queer people have used photography to document their own lives and relationships.