Dear Friends,
For many years - since I came out as being lesbian/queer - I have been thinking about the visual representation of ‘queer women’ [1] in popular culture, visual art, media and the public realm. Often, I have toyed with the idea of making images that reflect the intimate and daily experience of women who love women.
 
Living in India, this has often been a difficult proposition since it is extremely problematic for women to be OUT (visually) for varying reasons of safety that could lead to loosing jobs, apartments and fracture further the relationship with our families, friends and general social interaction and mobility. This is true for queer women in many parts of the world. Therefore, while many of us make self-portraits, have intimate photos of ourselves or our partners and friends, daily life record etc, these are mostly restricted to the privacy of our homes and shared with a handful of people.
 
How then to represent a wide range of images of queer women from different parts of the world? Images that reflect ourselves, our lovers, partners, familiars, alternative families etc. while being able to reflect gender, sexuality, race, culture, ability and age? One possible answer came to me as I was looking through the holiday photos of friends, pictures they had taken of themselves (auto-portraits) on the beach at dawn. Suddenly I felt so delighted to simply see images of a dyke couple on holiday!
 
That kicked started – Queer women take a holiday! Pictures taken by us for ourselves - record, and documentation of our lives - the way we choose to make it. So please, I request you to send me at least one holiday photo of yourself  - either alone, with your former/current lover/s, partner/s, familiars (human or non-human), and friends or family (with their permission of course). I propose to compile the images I receive from you into a book (no publishers as yet, but I am looking) and possibly into a web archive.
 
In order to make sure that photos can be included of women for whom it is not safe to show their face, I have suggested a few options below. To me it is very important that this project reflects the danger that visibility imposes on so many of us. In certain countries or regions or within our family settings, our forced invisibility is used to deny our existence. Now is the time to change this!

Option 1. The faces are fuzzed out (see attachment 1).
 
Option 2. The faces are cut out to leave a blank block of colour you choose(see attachment 2).
 
Option 3. You can each choose the face of any public figure you want as a mask to be put on your face(see attachment 3).

Option 4. The whole photo as it is.

Photos can be sent in any of the following formats:

• Original photograph (minimum size – 4”X5” and maximum size A4)
• Digital scans or files as TIFF/JPEG of minimum resolution: 5” X 7” @ 300 dpi
• In case the files are too heavy and you experience difficulties in attaching it, you can send it to me using http://www.yousendit.com
• Please send the photos with a title, location and year. It would also be great if you could list the county or countries (whichever you identify with) and a small note expressing whatever you want
• In case you choose to have the mask of some public figure on your face, please send a reference photo of the figure as well – printed, attached or url reference in high resolution
• If possible, please share in a few lines why you need/choose to conceal your face
• Also, send me your email id or postal address or some form of contact for future postage or correspondence
• This is an ongoing project so NO DEADLINE
  
• All photos must be sent to queerwomentakeaholiday@gmail.com or by post to either of the following addresses convenient:
  
  Tejal Shah
  304 Gera Chambers
  Off Boat Club Road
  Pune 411 001
  India
  
  
  Please be assured that this project is done with utmost caution, keeping in mind the crucial issue of safety.
  
  About myself:
  My name is Tejal. I am a queer, feminist, artivist from Bombay, India. In the past I have been part of autonomous groups - Forum Against Oppression of Women (FAOW) and Stree Sangam/Lesbians And Bisexuals In Action (LABIA). In 2003, I co-founded and organized Larzish, International Film Festival of Sexuality and Gender Plurality in Bombay.
  
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  [1] I use the term queer women to include lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, methi and hijra identities. I am aware that there are other culture specific words used by queer women to define themselves.
  
  PS: Please forward this email as widely as possible and if you happen to translate it into another language, please send me a copy of the translation.