Callicoon Fine Arts Exhibition Explores Queer Friendship Through Photography

From May 19 to June 21, 2013, Callicoon Fine Arts presented 'To The Friends Who Saved My Life' at 124 Forsyth Street in New York City. The exhibition featured works by Francesca Woodman, Hervé Guibert, Danh Vo, Moyra Davey, Heinz Peter-Knes, Rona Yefman, and Jason Simon. Woodman's black-and-white self-portraits were paired with Guibert's photography and writing, including his 1990 book 'To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life' about living with AIDS. Guibert's 1982 photograph 'Thierry, Amsterdam' shows a young man turning away from the camera. Danh Vo's 'Untitled' (2013) depicts hands with a limp grip, while Moyra Davey's 'Bottles 11 and 10' (1998) presents empty glass objects. Heinz Peter-Knes contributed 'very near sighted; but unspectacled' (1990-2008), a folio box containing 36 unedited images. Rona Yefman's 'Mirror and Legs' from 'My Brother and I' (1996-2010) explores collaboration between siblings. Jason Simon showed two Polaroids from 1990-2000 titled 'Michele and Simin'. The exhibition examined themes of mortality, intimacy, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic's spectral presence. Curatorial juxtapositions created disquieting connections between photographs, addressing how preservation projects intertwine with queer friendship's despair and joy. Guibert's 1996 book 'Ghost Image' meditates on photography, memory, and death. Jacques Derrida's 'The Politics of Friendship' (1997) is referenced in the exhibition's conceptual framework.