Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Cohen, Shelby
- Abstract:
- This selection of twenty black-and-white images demonstrates the range of Cohen's work and illustrates the diversity of activities and experiences of lesbians in the San Francisco Bay Area. The photos show a sex- and body-positivity that was influential within the community as a result of her work's exposure through On Our Backs, the Bay Area Reporter and other publications. Cohen was one of the only photographers at the time who was also involved with the beginning of the global lesbian leather movement that started in San Francisco in the 1980s and 1990s.
- Extent:
- 20 Photographic Prints
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Shelby Sharie Cohen Photograph Portfolio (GLC 205), LGBTQIA Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This selection of twenty black-and-white images demonstrates the range of Cohen's work and illustrates the diversity of activities and experiences of lesbians in the San Francisco Bay Area. The photos also show a sex- and body-positivity that was influential within the community as a result of her work's exposure through On Our Backs, the Bay Area Reporter and other publications.
Photographs include participants at the 1986 Gay Games in San Francisco, members of the lesbian motorcycle contingent Dykes on Bikes at San Francisco Pride parades, portraits of women working, a photo shoot of lesbians for On Our Backs, portraits of butch and femme lesbians, portraits of some famous people and their families, International Ms. Leather contestants, and a performance portrait for FABLED ASP. There is also a self-portrait of Cohen with her pregnant lover, and a portrait of Cohen taken 28 years later by Marie-Josee Mont-Reynaud.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Shelby Sharie Cohen (nee Shari Cohen) was born on March 27, 1959. She is a self-described butch lesbian self-portrait artist and photographer. Her work documents San Francisco's lesbian, BDSM, erotic and queer communities during the feminist sex wars and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s.
She was one of the primary photographers for On Our Backs: Entertainment for the Adventurous Lesbian, the first to feature lesbian erotica in the United States. Her work has also been published in the Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, The Sentinel, Coming Up Newspaper, East Bay Times, and others. Some of her work has been published under the names Shari Cohen, and Shelby Cohen. She has exhibited across the country and her work has been sold through Swann Auction Galleries.
Cohen currently lives in Northern California and focuses on portrait photography and creating new Queer photography of the present younger generation for galleries.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchase, 2019.
- Arrangement:
-
The photographs are arranged in chronological order with descriptive notes provided by the photographer.
- Physical location:
- The collection is stored onsite.
- Dimensions:
- (11-inches x 14-inches)
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research during Photo Desk hours: Tuesdays 1-5 pm, Thursdays 1-5 pm, and Saturdays 10-12 noon and 1-5 pm.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright retained by Shelby Cohen. Fair use permitted.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Shelby Sharie Cohen Photograph Portfolio (GLC 205), LGBTQIA Center, San Francisco Public Library.
- Location of this collection:
-
San Francisco Public Library100 Larkin StreetSan Francisco, CA 94102, US
- Contact:
- (415) 557-4567