Donna Gottschalk
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Donna Gottschalk is an American photographer who was active in the 1970s and came out as lesbian around the time that
Radicalesbians "Radicalesbians" were several Lesbian feminism, lesbian feminist organizations founded in the post-Stonewall riots, Stonewall period of gay activism. The first, most well-known of these groups was founded in New York City, and was short-lived, thou ...
and the Furies Collective formed.


Personal life

Gottschalk grew up poor on the working-class Lower East Side, living in low-income tenement housing, one of four children (Mary, Myla, and Vinnie). Her single mother was of Irish and Italian descent and operated a beauty parlour since the 1950s. Her father was a merchant marine who suffered from untreated mental illness and alcoholism and was not allowed in the home due to frequent physical abuse. In the 1960s, she studied illustration at the
High School of Art and Design The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and more recently, its Midtown Manha ...
. Through school, she met other lesbians who took her to iconic lesbian bars. She also became involved in the
Gay Liberation Front Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK, Australia and Canada. The GLF p ...
. Gottschalk designed the "
Lavender Menace Lavender Menace was an informal group of lesbian radical feminists formed to protest the exclusion of lesbians and their issues from the feminist movement at the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City on May 1, 1970. Members included ...
" t-shirt worn by lesbian-feminist activists protesting the
National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
's
homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
. Her sister Myla (born Alfie) first came out as a
gay man Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included '' inverts'' and '' uranians''. Gay men conti ...
and then as a
trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...
; Gottschalk documented Myla's transition beginning in 1992 through a photographic series. Due to being HIV+, struggling with narcotics and alcohol addictions, and suffering from violent
transphobic Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social ...
attacks, Myla died in 2013. She moved to California to join
lesbian separatist Feminist separatism or separatist feminism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's sex segregation from men.Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, ...
communities. While in California, she worked as an artist's model, a topless bartender, and the driver of horse-drawn carriages. Gottschalk lives on a small farm in
Victory, Vermont Victory is a town in Essex County, Vermont, United States. The population was 70 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Berlin, NH –VT Micropolitan Statistical Area. Victory was, along with neighboring Granby, one of the last two town ...
.


Career

Gottschalk was not a photojournalist or a documentary photographer but has been taking photos since she was 17. Her work is shown for the first time in the exhibition ''BRAVE, BEAUTIFUL OUTLAWS: The Photographs of Donna Gottschalk'' curated by Deborah Bright at the
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (LLMA), formerly the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, is a visual art museum in SoHo, Lower Manhattan, New York City. It mainly collects, preserves and exhibits visual arts created by LGBTQ artists or ...
from August 29, 2018. Some of Gottschalks photographs have been published in the
Gay Liberation Front Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK, Australia and Canada. The GLF p ...
newspaper ''
Come Out! ''Come Out!'' was an American LGBT newspaper that ran from 1969 to 1972. It was published by the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), a gay liberation group established in New York City in 1969, immediately following the Stonewall riots. The first issue ...
''. Her photos were in storage for 40 years. The subjects of Gottschalk's photos are her friends, family and roommates. Photojournalist Diana Davies took a photo of Gottschalk at the 1970 Christopher Street Liberation Day parade that shows her holding a sign reading: "I am your worst fear I am your best fantasy". In 2023, having already presented five Gottschalk photographs in the group show ''De l'Amitié'', the Parisian art gallery Marcelle Alix hosted her first ever European solo exhibition, co-curated by the writer Hélène Giannecchini: ''Donna Gottschalk : Ce qui fait une vie''. – the title referring to
Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In ...
's French version of their book ''Frames of War''. The exhibition featured over 30 photographs selected by Donna Gottschalk and Hélène Giannecchini: vintage prints, contemporary prints from the ''Brave Beautiful Outlaws'' exhibition and digital prints made by Gottschalk herself, on a domestic inkjet printer.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottschalk, Donna Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American photographers American designers American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent Photographers from New York City American lesbian artists Lesbian feminists Lesbian separatists Radical feminists 20th-century American women photographers People from Essex County, Vermont People from the Lower East Side 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American women artists Lesbian photographers