Dyke Diaries of New York City

An On-going Documentary Project by Maddie Provost

  This project is inspired by my own relationship to the word lesbian. I always knew I was a lesbian, but struggled to come to terms with it. I first came out as bisexual, however, after my first relationship with a woman, I realized my sexuality had been constructed within the confines of male approval and validation. Growing up, I had a singular, linear idea of what a lesbian looked like, and it wasn’t me. 

With this project, I am documenting the lesbian experience from individual voices; reframing lesbianism estranged from male fantasies and porn categories to exhibit the diverse lineages of lesbian, and prove there is no all-encompassing archetype of dykes. As a person who was hesistant to adopt the word lesbian—as it is often connotated as “dirty”— through this work, I hope to capture the special and beautiful experience that is being a lesbian.

      Dyke Diaries of New York City is a compilation of portraits and video interviews of lesbians living in New York City as means of humanizing our experience—to exhibit the joy, love, and liberation that comes with lesbianism. Each individual is presented with a series of the same questions, inquiring their notions of being a lesbian and how it intersects with their gender, childhood, relationships, and community. While the project is heavily documentary based, I am not inclined to keep to the strict boundaries of documentary, as lesbianism is not a boundary, but a freedom. I want to make the images and videos visually aesthetic while keeping the word of the sitter. Each photo of the individual will include an overlay of a statement in their own handwriting, answering the question “what makes you happy?” I leave this question for each individual to capture their humanness and personality. My project is not only a social commentary and a means to my own exploration of lesbianism, but also as a means of healing; to reside the dirty feeling of the word and find beauty in it.