Archiving the Other or Reading Online Photography as Queer Ephemera

ABSTRACT

Digital spaces have opened up new arenas in which to explore the emotions and ephemera of queer life. Building on the work of queer archivists, this article looks at how the online environments might allow us to build accessible queer, feminist archives of emotion and ephemera. I examine three photo essays – Meg Allen’s Butch, Maika Elan’s The Pink Choice and Christa Holka’s I Was There – in order to explore the role of the digital and visual in capturing queer moments and also to understand the importance of nostalgia and community for recording the important histories of queer women’s lives.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Gemma Killen is a PhD Candidate and lecturer in Gender Studies at The Australian National University. Her research interests lie in feminist and queer theory and her current work looks at queer women’s online social networks and communities.

Notes

1. Email correspondence with the author, February 2017.

2. Email correspondence with the author, February 2017.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.