Sage Sohier: At Home With Themselves

About the Exhibition

The exhibition includes 22 black-and-white photographs and transcribed interviews of gay and lesbian couples in their home environments.  Sohier began the two-year project in November 1987 with a grant from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities.  She undertook the project because she has a personal interest in the subject– someone in her family is gay– and because of the profound impact of AIDS on the gay community.  Her subjects are generally middle class, committed couples, who pose for her in their homes, surrounded by their belongings.  The interviews accompanying the photographs are illuminating documents about gay life.  Her subjects speak candidly on some of the more painful and difficult issues gay couples face:  having children, dealing with AIDS, having your loved one accepted by your family, making a relationship with few role models to base it on.