<I>Joseph and Charles, Walking the Labels Category, POCC Ball, Webster Hall, Manhattan, NY, 2007</I>
date: label: Date
content: August 2007
name: label: Photograph by
content: Gerard H. Gaskin, Trinidadian American, born 1965
label: Subject of
content: People of Color in Crisis, American, 1989 - 2008
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: A color digital image of Joseph and Charles, captured while participating in the Walking the Labels Category at the People of Color in Crisis (POCC) Ball in 2007. The two men are pictured in the center of the image wearing colorful suits and hats. The man to the left is dressed in a powder pink suit with a black shirt and a patterned pink bow tie. He also has a powder pink fedora style hat with a purple feather tucked into the brim. He holds an open umbrella that has a floral bright pink, purple, blue, and orange print. Another man stands in front, to the left, on the right side of the photograph. He wears a suit with a printed leaf and vine pattern in black, white, yellow, and various shades of green. He has on a white shirt with a dark green tie. Sunglasses cover his eyes and he is wearing a beige brimmed hat. He holds a red flower with a long stem to his nose. A large crowd is visible in the darkened room surrounding the men.
place: label: Place captured
content: Manhattan, New York City, New York, 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: Health
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: 2019.44.6
objectType: 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: 2912 pixels × 4368 pixels
label: Dimensions
content: 242.65 MB