Mascara, Mirth and Mayhem: Independence Day on Fire Island is a rollicking photographic document that celebrates four decades of an event known as "the Invasion of the Pines" by members of the neighboring LGBT community of Cherry Grove.
Initially planned to shock their staid neighbors and protest their snobbery, this queenly invasion on every July 4th, is a moment on Fire Island equal to Stonewall in Greenwich Village. It has grown in size and extravagance each year to become an earthquake of creative cross-dressing and a true independence day party.
The history of the original protest invasion, along with selected interviews of participants, then and now, augment Susan Kravitz's photographs of this flamboyant event taken over a period of 30 years.
Safe/Haven: Gay Life in 1950s Cherry Grove at New-York Historical Society features a outdoor exhibition that explores the lesbian and gay community that flourished during the 1950s in Cherry Grove through some 70 enlarged photographs and additional ephemera from the unique holdings of the Cherry Grove Archives Collection. On view May 14 through Oct 11, 2021.
