The Kinsey Institute will display Bettina Rheims’ “Everything All at Once” photography exhibition until December 2022 in the McCalla School.
Rheims’ contemporary fine art and commercial photography reflects themes of gender, sexuality and power. The twelve photographs selected for the exhibition come from Rheims’ “Modern Lovers” and “Espionnes” series. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
Each of the bodies of work were shot in London and Paris between 1989 and 1991. Taken during the height of the AIDS epidemic, Rheims’ pieces explore gender identity on a large scale. The androgyny of her subjects forces the viewer to examine the individuals beyond the confines of gender norms and see them simply as human beings, according to the Kinsey Institute.
Androgynous individuals express their gender identity in both traditionally masculine and feminine ways.
Twenty years after her work on “Modern Lovers,” Rheims examined sexuality and gender once again in her book “Bettina Rheims: Gender Studies.” Rheims said she is drawn to photographing androgynous individuals to acknowledge them in the face of homophobia and controversy surrounding gender theory in Paris.
“I had placed an ad on Facebook encouraging young men and women who felt ‘different’ to contact my studio,” Rheims wrote. “We received dozens of replies, from all over the world, like faraway calls wanting to be heard. It was my aim to show them and give them a voice.”
While Rheims is best known for her erotic photography, she’s also worked for renowned fashion magazines and newspapers such as Elle, Marie Claire and L’Officiel. Rheims has done commercial work for major fashion brands like Chanel and Lancôme. She was awarded the Grand Prix de la Photographie of the City of Paris in 1994.
Today, Rheims lives and works in Paris and her photographs are displayed in exhibitions around the globe.
