Tate

Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene is a touching image of love between women. The piece is inspired by fragmented poems written by a woman named Sappho in the 4th century BC, in which she pleads that Aphrodite help her in her same-sex relationship. The term ‘le***an’ derives directly from this poet, as her homeland was the Greek Island of Le**os. Sappho’s story points to a longer history of same-sex desire. ​
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It’s perhaps for this reason that Simeon Solomon, a man who was attracted to men in defiance of the law, painted her. While a depiction of two men kissing would have been completely taboo, this is a passionate depiction of same-sex desire between women. Solomon’s own sexuality eventually lead to his incarceration. When he was released from prison he was rejected by many within the artist community, struggled to find work and soon became homeless.
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🎨 Simeon Solomon (1840–1905), Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene, 1864. Tate Collection. Purchased 1980

‘On three counts I am an outsider: in terms of sexuality; in terms of geographical and cultural dislocation; and in the sense of not having become the sort of respectably married professional my parents might have hoped for.’ - Rotimi Fani-Kayode 📷

Rotimi Fani-Kayode (1955-1989) was a Nigerian photographer who at the age of 11 moved with his family to England, fleeing from the Biafran War. He studied in the US, then returned to work in London, becoming a key figure in British contemporary art. Fani-Kayode described his work as ‘Black, African, homosexual photography’. It explores the tensions created by sexuality, race and culture through stylised portraits and compositions. For him the position of ‘outsider’ produced ‘a sense of freedom’ that he felt opened up ‘areas of creative enquiry which might otherwise have remained forbidden’. He created the bulk of his work between 1982 and 1989, the year he died from AIDS-related complications.

Fani-Kayode’s work often draws on Yoruba iconography and spirituality. These photographs are part of series titled Abiku, a Yoruba word meaning ‘born to die’. It is used to describe the spirit of a child who dies young. Fani-Kayode’s first name, Rotimi, means ‘stay with me’. Fani-Kayode used double exposure to create dramatic, and sometimes ambiguous, compositions. He said: ‘My reality is not the same as that which is often presented to us in Western photographs. As an African working in a Western medium, I try to bring out the spiritual dimensions in my pictures so that concepts of reality become ambiguous and are open to re-interpretation.’

🖤 Abiku (Born to Die), 1988, printed c.1988 © Rotimi Fani-Kayode, courtesy of Autograph ABP. Purchased with funds provided by the Africa Acquisitions Committee and Tate Members 2020

Who will you be spending time with this weekend? 🐈 📷
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​This is a portrait of Roger, Steve (and their cat Rocky) taken in London in 1984. The photograph is part of Sunil Gupta’s pioneering ‘Lovers: Ten Years On’, a series of over thirty black and white portraits of gay and le***an couples taken in the UK between 1984 and 1986.​​ The series was made after Gupta’s own ten-year relationship ended and, as a form of social analysis, he decided to document the long-term gay relationships he encountered and the changing sensibilities of the social environment he found himself a part of.​​

Taken over a period of two years, the portraits all follow the same format – they are shot in domestic interiors, with their poses and arrangements reminiscent of traditional family photographs. The series was accompanied by an artist’s statement, in which Gupta observed that while there had been a shift in gay self-consciousness since the 1970s, the arrival of HIV and Aids had once again turned public opinion against the acceptance of homosexuality, and that its popular and commercial representations were dominated by a stereotype of deviance.​​

Discover Gupta's photography in our free Tate Britain display, No Such Thing As Society 1980 - 1990 🏛️ https://bit.ly/4nkmr2c

📷 Sunil Gupta, Roger & Steve, London, 1984, printed 2018 © Sunil Gupta. Partial gift of Rudolph Leuthold and partial purchase 2018