After stumbling upon a deck of cards from 1995 featuring photos of lesbian women by Catherine Opie, a contemporary photographer thought about reimagining the project using photos of people in her life.
The original project was called “The Dyke Deck” and it was meant to mock stereotypes about lesbian women by featuring common ones as the four suits that make up the deck. Artist Naima Green decided to take a different tack.
Rather than group the subjects by things having to do with their gender or sexuality, she asked them to self-identify with things like seasons, elements, and numbers. Subjects from all across the gender and sexuality spectrums were asked to participate.
Why It Matters
That new project became a popular Kickstarter campaign, with 700+ backers pledging more than $33,000 to fund the project earlier this year.
Here’s what Green had to say about the message behind the project, which is titled “Pur-Suit.”
“The whole reason I’m making work is to break down these categories, and feel like there is fluidity across the deck, and there are no binaries.”
Photo by Aditya Chinchure on Unsplash