Selfie time.
Probably as familiar to us all in this enlightened world of advanced hand held and mobile tech, but can you name or mention where the first ever selfie was taken?
A new documentary focuses on a century-worth and beyond of same-sex unions in photo-form, taking us back to a time when a seemingly more male and liberal time was suppressed in images that painted more than a thousand words – and said far less in terms of restrictions.
David Millbern’s 100 YEARS OF MEN IN LOVE: THE ACCIDENTAL COLLECTION is the evolving brainchild of two curators, Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, who by sheer chance began with a mere photo they discovered in an antique store somewhere, fascinated by what the picture represented and wondering if they would ever find anything else.
However, things never worked out like that as the photos began to emerge in all kinds of places and situations and began to try and piece together the emotional and loving attachments of the individuals and couples they began to see in the pictures, some of whom were war veterans and celebrating their freedom as the Second World War ended.
Based on Nini and Treadwell’s own book ‘LOVING: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s-1950s‘ , 100 YEARS OF MEN IN LOVE effectively and simply reawakens the spirit of a time seemingly long gone, but which still has ramifications today in these more aware times for a demographic who are all still trying to find identity as the world continues to go through conflicted and troubled times brought on by a variety of political and social concerns.
If there is some disappointment here, it is that we don’t really get to know the people in the images better or the curators’ own emotional and spiritual attachment to the endeavours designed to bring forth the essence of what it meant to truly live in their hearts whilst under an oppressive social microscope.
100 YEARS OF MEN IN LOVE: THE ACCIDENTAL COLLECTION premieres in Los Angeles on Wednesday March 23rd, 2022 at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, before premiering on Here TV from Friday March 25th,
