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SF's Lesbian Underground

Photos at Good Vibrations

by Kristian Richards on Jun 20, 2011
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Although sex-positive photographer Phyllis Christopher has been taking photographs of all the kinky, fun sex lesbians have been having since the 90s, she swears she's still a good girl. With over two decades of work under her belt, she visits Good Vibrations on Polk Street on June 23rd for an opening reception to share a retrospective look at some of her favorite pieces. She took a moment to talk about the passion that fuels her and what motivated her pioneering work.

SF Station (SFS): Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where are you from?

Phyllis Christopher (PC): I am originally from Buffalo, New York. I moved up to San Francisco in '89. The 90s was the perfect time to be here and be a lesbian because we really needed images, at the time, of our life.

SFS: What kinds of images?

PC: Specifically, of our fun and our fun sex lives as opposed to being all serious and political. That was the origin of my work, just wanting to have a voice and show all my friends what we were all doing.

At the time, AIDS was really prevalent, so we were all afraid but we were determined to have a great time. The 90s for lesbians was like what the 70s were for gay men. We just kinda decided whatever made us happy, we would do [laughs].

There were a lot of sex parties and there was On Our Backs magazine, which was a big player in sponsoring me for a lot of the work. They would say, “We need a photo spread,” so I would have an excuse to go to a sex club with my camera [laughs]. It was the perfect thing because I'm very shy.

SFS: Tell me about your upcoming show.

PC: The show is called “Heart/Hand/Art: Erotic Moments from San Francisco's Lesbian Underground.” I think the title sums it up because for me it's always been such passionate work. The setting could have often been assumed to be frivolous or unparty-like, but for us it was political.

There were a lot of writers and people involved with On Our Backs — people involved with lesbian visibility. We were all very serious. You know, we were getting censored. It was hard work because, at the time, it was thought of as edgy. We were portraying sex between women and passion between women. I still love that, and it continues to be what interests me. I love passion between women and I wanted to give it from my point of view.

SFS: Would you say the work in your current show still strongly reflects the fun side of lesbianism or do you find yourself beginning to get serious? How does this show fit in with the theme of your work?

PC: It's even more passionate, and I think it's a little more toned down and mature. The show is a retrospect, so it's a collection of my favorites over the last 15 years

My work seems a little more subtle to me now. In the early 90s it was like, “Let's just show everything in as much explicit detail as possible.”

SFS: Were you trying to shock people with your images?

PC: I never, never wanted to shock people. I was having these amazing experiences and I wanted to talk about it. The most exciting thing about being a photographer as with any kind of art, is finding something that is brand new that makes you feel like it's happening for the first time.

That's the feeling that motivates me. Women posed for free because they just felt like they needed their stories out there; they weren't being vain or attention-hungry. It continues to be like that.

SFS: Did you time your exhibit to be in San Francisco around SF Pride on purpose?

PC: Yeah, I'm very lucky to be able to show at Good Vibes right now because I think there will be a lot of people in town on Thursday night. I'm hoping a lot of new people check it out, and that people from the past come and maybe check out themselves in the show.

Phyllis Christopher will be at the opening reception for “Heart/Hand/Art: Erotic moments from San Francisco's Lesbian Underground” at Good Vibrations on Polk Street on June 23rd from 6pm to 8pm. The exhibit runs through August 7th.



by Kristian Richards on Jun 20, 2011
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