Lenn Keller
Born
Helen Lenora Keller

September 29, 1951
Evanston, Illinois
DiedDecember 16, 2020(2020-12-16) (aged 69)
Oakland, California
Other namesH. Lenn Keller
Occupation(s)Photographer, filmmaker, archivist
Known forFounder of the Bay Area Lesbian Archives

H. Lenn Keller (September 29, 1951 – December 16, 2020), born Helen Lenora Keller, was an American photographer and filmmaker based in San Francisco, founder of the Bay Area Lesbian Archives.

Early life

Keller was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1951 (some sources give 1950 as the year), the daughter of a World War II veteran.[1][2] Her birth name was intended as a reference to the well-known Helen Keller, an association Keller found difficult at times.[3] She graduated from New Trier High School in suburban Winnetka, where she was one of the few black students in her classes;[4] she later recalled that "racism saved me from compulsory heterosexuality".[1] She moved to New York City in 1968, and to San Francisco in 1975.[2] In 1984, she earned a bachelor's degree in visual communication at Mills College.[5]

Career

Keller was a photographer and filmmaker documenting diverse queer cultures in San Francisco. Her first short film, Ifé (1993), won an audience award at the 1994 Women's International Film Festival in Madrid. A second short film, Sightiings (1995), was a romantic comedy with black lesbian lead characters.[6] She appears in the documentary Gender Troubles: The Butches (2016).[7]

Exhibitions of Keller's work included Gender Warriors, and Fierce Sistahs! (2010, San Francisco Public Library). Her photographs appeared in Aché: A Journal for Black Lesbians, including a self-portrait she contributed for the cover of a 1991 issue.[8] Five of her photographs were included in a major group show, Queer California: Untold Stories (2019), at the Oakland Museum of California.[9] She founded the Bay Area Lesbian Archives in 2014,[10] including her photographs and films, and her collection of community flyers and posters from the 1970s. "This history is very important, not just for posterity, but it’s important for us now," she explained in 2018.[5][11] She left an unfinished documentary project, Persistent Desire.[2]

Keller was named the Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal of the 2020 San Francisco Pride event, which was held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.[12]

Personal life

Lenn Keller had a daughter. Keller died from cancer at her home in Oakland, California in December 2020, aged 69 years.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 O'Donoghue, Liam (2020-12-18). "Remembering Lenn Keller, founder of Bay Area Lesbian Archives". The Oaklandside. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  2. 1 2 3 Whiting, Sam (December 23, 2020). "Lenn Keller, photographer and cofounder of lesbian archives, dead at 69". Datebook; San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  3. ↑ "Stories of Our Lives: Lenn Keller" (PDF). Lavender Notes. 29: 1–9. September 2019.
  4. ↑ Hotchkiss, Sarah (April 11, 2019). "Lenn Keller: Keeping the Bay Area's Black Lesbian History Alive". KQED. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  5. 1 2 3 Bellamy-Walker, Tat (2020-12-26). "Lenn Keller, Black Butch Lesbian Photographer, Dies at 69". Gay City News. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  6. ↑ "H. Lenn Keller". Women Artists of the American West: Lesbian Photography on the U. S. West Coast, 1972-1997. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  7. ↑ "Gender Troubles: The Butches". Gender Troubles: The Butches. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Alexis Bard (December 2020). "Artist, Activist, Archivist Lenn Keller (1950-2020)". ONE Archives. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  9. ↑ "Queer California: Untold Stories". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  10. ↑ "Lenn Keller Archives". KPFA. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  11. ↑ Vainshtein, Annie (2018-05-26). "Lesbian archive preserves a time when the Bay Area changed radically". SFChronicle.com. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  12. ↑ "Lenn Keller". San Francisco Pride. 2020-04-16. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
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