We Others by Donna Gottschalk and Hélène Giannecchini
Text and images by Birthe Havmøller/Feminine Moments.
Birthe Havmøller/Feminine Moments visited We Others at the Photographer’s Gallery in London in May 2026.
I visited We Others, a landmark exhibition featuring photographer and lesbian Donna Gottschalk’s photographs of her lesbian sisters – the baby dykes – in New York in the 1960s-70s, at The Photographers Gallery in London end of May 2026. This was the second iteration of the travelling exhibition which premiered at LE BAL in Paris, France last year.
My snapshots does not quite do justice to the exhibition. However, Le Bal presents a nice series of exhibition view photos from We Others in Parison their website. I recommend that you see too.
Chris, Oak, Binky and I Baby Dykes, (1969) by Donna Gottschalk.
Exhibition text from We Others by Donna Gottschalk at Photographers Gallery (2026) in London UK.
Self-Portrait, New York (1970) by Donna Gottschalk.
Donna Gottschalk photographed her lovers and lesbian sisters. At the exhibition an interview with Donna Gottschalk was screened in a continous loup. In this interview she tells us that she didn’t print her photos at the time, back then when they were taken, as she didn’t have a place to show them(!) The time have change and the queer culture have changed. Now, her portraits are the queer lost history we have been looking for. The proof that there were lesbians before Stonewall and the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade in 1970. However, it wasn’t until Hélène Giannecchini, a writer and art theorist, met Donna Gottschalk in 2023 that the (art) world would learn about Donna’s treasure trove of archive images.
Chris in a cab, New York, 1970 by Donna Gottschalk.
JEB (1970) by Donna Gottschalk.
Exhibition view from We Others by Donna Gottschalk (2026) at Photographer’s Gallery in London, UK.
Photographs by Donna Gottschalk. Exhibition view from Photographer’s Gallery (2026)
Julie Héraut – About the Artist and the Curator:
Text by Julie Héraut from We Others at the Photographers Gallery in London, UK.
Donna Gottschalk holds poster created by Michela Griffo at Christofer Street Gay Liberation Day parade, 1970. Photo by Diana Jo Davies.
Queer artist Michela Griffo writes about the poster, ‘… my first piece of political art… the poster I created for the First Pride March in June 1970 and gave it to @donnagottschalk to hold because she looked like an angel’.
New Monograph
The exhibition is accompanied by the first monograph dedicated to Donna Gottschalk. The monograph We Others by Donna Gottschalk (2025, Co-published by LE BAL and Atelier EXB) brings together a previously unseen selection of her photographs taken between the 1960s and 1990s. The collection of photographs is completed by a selection of archival materials as well as previously unpublished essays by Julie Héraut and Carla Williams.