<I>Kelli, Legends Ball, Jersey City, June 1995</I>
date: label: Date
content: June 1995
name: label: Photograph by
content: Gerard H. Gaskin, Trinidadian American, born 1965
notes: label: Caption
content: "The balls are a celebration of black and Latino urban gay life. They were born in Harlem out of a need for black and Latino gays to have a safe space to express themselves. Balls are constructed like beauty and talent pageants. The participants work to redefine and critique gender and sexual identity through an extravagant fashion masquerade. Women and men become fluid, interchangeable points of departure and reference, disrupting the notion of a fixed and rigid gender and sexual self. My images try to show a more personal and intimate beauty, pride, dignity, courage, and grace that have been painfully challenged by mainstream society. All of this happens at night in small halls in cities all over the country. These photographs, taken in New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington, D.C., show us different views of these spaces as they are reflected in the eyes of house and ball members who perform what they wish these cities could be." – Gerard H. Gaskin
label: Description
content: This black and white image is shot from above the subject, Kelli. Kelli is looking up and into the camera. She is dressed in a black bra that is partially covered by a long, black, collared overcoat. Her short hair is styled in finger waves, reminiscent of popular hairstyles of the 1920s. She holds a cigarette out of the corner of her mouth. She holds her hands close to her body. Behind her is a typical living room setup. The scene is lit so that her silhouette with her cigarette is cast on the wall behind her.
place: label: Place captured
content: Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Communities
label: Topic
content: Dance
label: Topic
content: Fashion
label: Topic
content: Gender
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: LGBTQ
label: Topic
content: Music
label: Topic
content: Nightlife
label: Topic
content: Photography
label: Topic
content: Sexuality
label: Topic
content: Urban life
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: Legendary
label: Classification
content: Photographs and Still Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Gerard H. Gaskin
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2019.44.7
objectType: label: Type
content: black-and-white photographs
label: Type
content: portraits
label: Type
content: digital images
label: Type
content: digital media - born digital
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Gerard H. Gaskin
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: digital
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 11344 pixels × 7568 pixels
label: Dimensions
content: 163.77 MB