‘Looking for Lesbians’ at ONE Archives examines lesbian pulp fiction
qvoicenews.comSarah-Joy Ford, left, is the artist behind the exhibit “Looking for Lesbians.” It was inspired by the ONE Archives lesbian pulp collection.
Alexis Bard Johnson, right, curated the show. Photos: Alexis Bard Johnson. In a new exhibit, “Looking for Lesbians,” created for ONE Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries, artist-in-residence Sarah-Joy Ford and curator Alexis Bard Johnson explore how pulp novels gave rise to lesbian literary culture. “Tracing that relationship and the networks that form in and out of that publishing community, I think that’s something we’re both really interested in,” Johnson told The Advocate. ‘It’s something that Sarah-Joy has really effectively traced in the months she’s been here in residence in Los Angeles.” Sarah-Joy Ford is an artist and post-graduate researcher at Manchester School of Art, where she is a co-director of the Queer Research Network Manchester and a member of Proximity Collective.
Her Ph.D. research explores quilt making as an effective methodology for re-visioning lesbian archival material. Opening “Looking for Lesbians” opened July 23 at the ONE Gallery in West Hollywood, featuring Ford’s artwork alongside selections from ONE’s lesbian pulp fiction collection and other archival materials related to lesbian literature in Los Angeles. “Looking for Lesbians” is set to run throughout the rest of the summer, closing Sept.
10. Lesbian pulp fiction Lesbian pulp novels are a form of literature that grew from the 1950s and 60s, when the LGBTQ+ community was part of a growing counterculture that was still outlawed by mainstream society.
