Sage Sohier

Bill and Ric, with Ric's daughter Kate, San Francisco, February 1987

Maker

Sage Sohier (American, b. 1954)

Title

Bill and Ric, with Ric's daughter Kate, San Francisco, February 1987
from the series At Home with Themselves: Same-sex Couples in 1980s America

Year

1987

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Image: 27.3 x 40.3 cm (10 3/4 x 15 7/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription: Signed, verso, ul, in graphite: Sage Sohier © 1987; inscribed, verso, at top, in graphite: Bill & Rick, with Rick’s Daughter Kate, San Francisco, 1987; inscribed, verso, lr, in graphite: (2) / 811 / 22M3Y / 14 sec / d & blx (?)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

2015.87.2

Type

Exhibition History

Any distance between us
Jul 17, 2021 – Mar 13, 2022

Label copy

“I began this project in 1986 because the advent of AIDS had led me to think about the prevalence, variety, and longevity of gay and lesbian relationships-the opposite of the promiscuity that was getting so much play in the press. My ambition was to make pictures that challenged and moved people and that were interesting both visually and psychologically. In the 1980s, many same-sex relationships were still discreet, or a bit hidden. It was a time when many gay men were dying of AIDS, which made a particularly poignant backdrop for the project. This was before successful drug cocktails were developed. I was interested in how, as a culture, we weren’t used to looking at two men touching, and was struck by the visual novelty yet total ordinariness of these same-sex relationships.”

-Sage Sohier, 2014

The Phantom of Liberty
Contemporary Works in the RISD Museum Collection
May 04, 2018 – Dec 30, 2018

Label copy

I began this project in 1986 because the advent of AIDS had led me to think about the prevalence, variety, and longevity of gay and lesbian relationships -- the opposite of the promiscuity that was getting so much play in the press. My ambition was to make pictures that challenged and moved people and that were interesting both visually and psychologically. In the 1980s, many same-sex relationships were still discreet or a bit hidden. It was a time when many gay men were dying of AIDS, which made a particularly poignant backdrop for the project.

I was interested in how, as a culture, we weren’t used to looking at two men touching, and was struck by the visual novelty yet total ordinariness of these same-sex relationships. -Sage Sohier

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Tombstone

Sage Sohier (American, b. 1954)
Bill and Ric, with Ric's daughter Kate, San Francisco, February 1987; from the series At Home with Themselves: Same-sex Couples in 1980s America, 1987
Gelatin silver print
Image: 27.3 x 40.3 cm (10 3/4 x 15 7/8 inches)
Mary B. Jackson Fund 2015.87.2

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