My series “Calendar Girls” is featured this week as a solo exhibition at the LIC Arts Open. To celebrate I had a reception last weekend and will have a small evening reception tomorrow night from 6-8pm. The gallery is open daily from noon-6 and will continue through Sunday, May 20th. This Saturday, May 19th, although I won’t be present, there will be a block party and open studios throughout the neighborhood. Hope to see you this week!

Artist Statement:
This is a portrait series featuring queer and lesbian identifying women shot during one whole day at the beach. The project began as a calendar for Autostraddle.com, the world’s most popular independently-owned lesbian culture website, which was founded by close friends of mine. The calendar, originally meant to increase visibility of queer women within a mainstream construct, grew into an annual portrait introspective. For this particular series, I sought to capture images that would reflect the subjects’ feelings of freedom and comfort in their own skin. I was particularly interested in natural, uninhibited moments. I chose a simple expanse of sand and water where the horizon line is sometimes indistinguishable, which was the perfect setting for a very personal and focused look at each of these extraordinary women, among them a Miss California pageant contestant and a former Olympian.

As a photographer, documenting an entire day at the beach is a great challenge. The drastic change in light throughout the day and the ebb and flow of the tides adds an interesting contrast to an otherwise consistent series.

I loved coming away from this shoot knowing that many of these women are now friends, and I hope that these images reflect those bonds formed.

Robin Roemer, 2011