Just As You Are: Portraits by Robert Giard

April 28 - June 30, 2012

University of Toronto Art Centre and the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies

University of Toronto Art Centre

Diana Gore, Renée van der Avoird, and Julia Cyr

Between 1985 and his death in 2002, famed American photographer, Robert Giard (1940-2002) took nearly 600 black and white portraits of gay and lesbian literary figures, usually in their homes. In the wake of the AIDS crisis, Giard felt compelled to document and celebrate queer histories and literature. Giard’s portraits commemorate pioneers of an emerging queer identity and reflect a spirit of activism that remains to this day.

A featured exhibition of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, Just As You Are: Portraits by Robert Giard includes 40 vintage prints from the Estate of Robert Giard, and eight photographs of Canadian gay and lesbian writers recently donated to the University College Collection by Jonathan Silin, Giard’s partner of 30 years.

Presented in conjunction with the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, and supported by the Jackman Humanities Institute, and the Valerie Jean Griffiths Student Exhibitions Fund in Memory of William, Elva and Elizabeth. Robert Giard's black and white portraits of gay and lesbian literary figures capture an extraordinary cultural moment in 80s and 90s America. This exhibition features forty vintage prints from the Estate of Robert Giard (1939-2002). It also includes eight portraits of gay and lesbian Canadian writers recently donated to the University College collection by Jonathan Silin.

art exhibit

contemporary art, 1980s, 1990s, Robert Giard, lesbain gay, queer, AIDS, identity, Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, literary history