Celebration: Chloe Sherman in conversation, Renegades
Channel: San Francisco Public Library
Date: 2023-12-08

Don’t miss your opportunity to explore SF queer culture from the 90s. Chloe Sherman's new photography book, "Renegades," is a tender and joyous portrait of a thriving lesbian community. Sherman will be in conversation with Christina Moretta, San Francisco Public Library's Photo Curator and Archivist. 

While pursuing her BFA in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1990s, Sherman began documenting a generation of young, self-identified queers in the Mission District. Rent was affordable, and gay youth, outcasts, artists and free spirits migrated to San Francisco to find one another. The sense of community was palpable as a queer cultural renaissance unfolded. Bars, clubs, tattoo shops, galleries, cafes, bookstores and women-owned businesses proliferated. A new wave of feminism embraced gender-bending, and butch/femme culture flourished.

Sherman was impressed by the collective creativity, support, pride and strident defiance of cultural norms. This subculture emerged against the backdrop of mainstream society. All shot on 35mm film, my photographs from this vibrant era connect current and future generations to the pulse of the city during a unique time when difference and homecoming were unapologetically celebrated.

About

Born in New York City, Chloe Sherman earned her BFA in Photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. Her interest and pursuit of documentary photography were deeply influenced by her fine arts training. 

After receiving a Merit scholarship for her photographic work, she had the honor of being selected as a participant of the Eddie Adams Barnstorm Workshop in upstate New York. Here she worked alongside National Geographic and AP photographers, and this experience became a launchpad for her career. She later worked as a photo editor for Mother Jones magazine and as a freelance photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Her work has been exhibited at Schlomer Haus Gallery in San Francisco and internationally with Sotheby's ArtLink Auction. She has been published in the books Nothing But the Girl, RESEARCH: Angry Women in Rock, and Out in America and featured in magazines including Rolling Stone, Interview, and The Advocate.

Books were available for sale at the event. 

Following the event, there was an after-party at Mother, a queer bar centered on women and femmes in San Francisco's Mission District. Located at 3079 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103.