Photographer Koitz has been chronicling the gay people and events of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines for more than a decade and a half in work that has appeared in newspapers and been displayed in art shows. Koitz’s clear and sensitive photos find a dramatic setting in a new art book entitled “Gay Fire Island: It’s Good to Be Us,” with foreword by Patrick Ryan and introduction by Nicholas Davies. Coming out in the midst of a pandemic, it is poignant as well, reminding of a world that was until oh so very recently; that is currently on hold; and that, one hopes, will be again.
Koitz’s photos in this 152-page hardcover volume depict the summers of 2006 to 2019: the sexiness, the whimsy; the parties and other events; the colorful drag queens and the young hunks and studs. Among the many familiar faces here are Mr. Fire Island Leather 2007 Diego Vargas as a centaur; Sybil Bruncheon, Imperial Court of New York founder; Panzi, Invasion founder; filmmaker Parker and spouse Andy Sargent; women of the Grove in Beefeater garb; Justin Vivian Bond; Charity, the second Miss Fire Island; Empress Anne Tique as the Mona Lisa; Bianca del Rio, RuPaul’s Drag Race winner; singers Porsche and Shequida; DJ Lina Bradford; Tigger; Juicy and Chiclet; Anne Phetamine; Logan Hardcore; and Hedda Lettuce. The Fourth of July Cherry Grove Invasion of the Pines, Daniel Nardicio’s Underwear Parties and Spartacus Party, the Pines Party, and Pride in Cherry Grove are events that Koitz has vividly captured.
He’s also posed fresh-looking models contrasting with the charred ruins left by fires well remembered. The beach, the go-go dancers, the couples entwined, and someone who looks like John Waters, from the back, conducting the waves of the ocean like an orchestra, are all recorded by Koitz in the beautiful, sensual, and compelling photographs in this book.
“Gay Fire Island” is listed with Google Books, but an entry on Cherry Grove Untucked, on Facebook, suggests that it might be best to get it directly from the master photographer.
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