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Of everything Sappho wrote, almost nothing remains. Her words reach us across twenty-six centuries not because the record was kept carefully, but because someone made the effort to keep them alive. That is the condition of queer history at large. Our stories arrive in pieces. What survives, survives because someone fought for it.

Fragments comes to the Bureau of General Services–Queer Division for an evening with the artists of Issue 02, An Ode to Sappho. Anika Guttormson, Dalila Frias, Eva Woolridge, Jules Diaz Petta, Madaleine Kotary, Maggie McLemore, and Trâm Huynh join Kade Joy to talk about the work in the issue, artists they are inspired by, and what it means to build an archive in print; an object that can be held, passed on, and remembered.

Copies of Issue 02 will be available at the event. 

Anika Guttormson (they/them) is a queer photographer and writer living in Brooklyn. Their work focuses on queer identity and relationships, often dreaming up abstract stories where queer people can find love and connection despite their circumstances. We can always pine for a better world, one where everyone is free to love who they choose. They hope to breach that gap with their photography and storytelling.

Dalila Frias (she/they) — My name is Dalila and I’m a disabled caribeña (Dominican) artist from the Bronx. My passions are in drawing/painting, poetry and newly, music making. I love writing whatever comes to mind – identity, childhood trauma, spirituality. I enjoy reading, line dancing with friends, cooking and traveling across the globe.

Eva Woolridge (she/her) is a Black-American/Chinese-American photographer based in Brooklyn, NY, whose work explores the sexual, spiritual, and emotional dimensions of femininity, with a focus on lesbian queer nightlife and reproductive health. She is a recipient of the 2019 Leica Women in Foto Award for “The Size of a Grapefruit,” a visual narrative addressing medical negligence and microaggressions Black women face during health emergencies. Her photography has appeared in The Boston Globe, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, and Teen Vogue, and has been exhibited internationally. She served on Fujifilm North America’s Diversity Advisory Council and has spoken at TEDxMaplewood, the Leica Women Summit, and the Schomburg Center. Woolridge also leads workshops with Leica Akademie and Skillshare focused on ending racial disparities in photography. She currently sits on the board of American Photographic Artists.

Jules Diaz Petta (she/they)  is an artist and activist, whose practice is rooted in representation, visibility, and uplifting marginalized voices. Their work centers BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, using photography as a tool for resistance and preservation. Through printed projects such as PERMANENCE, Queer Love, and FEMME, v., Jules documents identity and belonging, framing queer existence as living history rather than exception. Her activism began from a need to see her community reflected with care and dignity and has grown into a community-based practice grounded in collaboration, trust, and shared authorship.

Madaleine Kotary (she/her)  is a multidisciplinary artist and director, raised in New York’s Capital Region and presently based in Brooklyn. She approaches her practice as a tourist in her mind’s eye and her work as souvenirs. Stylized and subtly surreal, her storytelling spans narrative film, photography, music video, sculpture, and the written word; with an attraction to timeless Hollywood aesthetics, curious characters, and a lingering brush of the sapphic hand.

Maggie McLemore (she/her) is a fine art and fashion photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. Often drawing upon the small town she grew up in, her practice hybridizes personal history with playfully invented narrative through highly constructed, cinematic scenes. Her ongoing project, Imprint of Shame, examines personal experiences of queer shame — her own and others’ — as tableau vivant, a living picture. Across fashion and fine art, Maggie uses her work to build queer community, open dialogue around what often goes undiscussed, and to visualize queer stories in a world where we don’t see ourselves nearly enough. 

Trâm Huỳnh (they/them) is a Vietnamese artist, currently residing in New York City. Huynh’s work presents a hopeful deconstruction of the white gaze and the systems that bestow themselves upon Vietnamese bodies. Through their photographic practice and alternative techniques, they are confronting the manipulations that Vietnamese bodies have endured.

Kade Joy (they/he) — I have been a photographer for over a decade. I started my career focusing on portraits and have made the transition to focusing on events in recent years. I see my work as archival.  Whether I am capturing someone receiving an award at a gala, friends dancing at the club, a walk down the aisle, or marching at a protest, my goal is to help people tell their stories. While, of course, I take plenty of photos of people smiling at the camera, I pay attention to the smaller, quieter moments. Throughout the years, I have developed an eye to know when a moment is special, even when no one else at the event is noticing. While I work with a large variety of clients, I have dedicated my photography practice to preserving the legacy of this generation of queer people, with a focus on dykes and transgender people in NYC.  My work is a love letter to those whom I share community and I strive to represent them in a way that feels authentic and celebratory.

The Bureau of General Services—Queer Division is Manhattan’s only queer bookstore, located on the second floor of the LGBT Center. We’re open Tuesday-Sunday from 1-7pm and accessible by the 6th Ave 1 2 3 L trains and 8th Ave A C E trains. Our cafe, The Bureau Cafe, is open Tuesday-Sunday from 9am-7pm.