“Forbidden Love at the Desert’s Edge” - Exhibit Opening

Join us on Saturday February 8th at 5:00 PM to celebrate the opening of Gerber/Hart’s newest exhibit!

“Forbidden Love at the Desert’s Edge” presents Hal Shipman’s innovative photography-based work, inspired by found archives. The opening reception will feature an artist’s talk with Shipman and an opportunity to discuss family secrets, lost archives and the inspirations behind his works.The exhibit includes selections from the Gerber/Hart collections; featuring hidden stories, precious found artifacts and loves denied.

Hal Shipman’s photographic works are inspired by the story of his great-uncle. Bill Gavin was a closeted gay man who lived his entire life in the West Texas town of Abilene, Texas in the early 1900s. Each piece is inspired by the tiny fragments of Gavin’s life that Shipman was able to glean from local newspapers and a few accidentally revealed family stories.

The exhibition is centered around “Smilin’ Through (2024),” a grand reenactment of the 1919 gothic drama, Smilin’ Through. Shipman tells the play in a series of still images playing with the visual vocabulary of film. In the retelling, he recasts the two straight romances in the original work as gay male love stories. Other pieces examine the landscape of the town and the social prospects for a gay man in that time.

Tickets for the event are $15 and include beverages and snacks.

The exhibition and reception will take place on the second floor of 6500 N Clark Street. Stairs are located inside the front door (by the entrance to Walgreens). An elevator is located at the end of the hallway (past the Howard Brown front desk).

“Forbidden Love at the Desert’s Edge” will be on display at Gerber/Hart from February 8, 2025 to April 26, 2025 in the Sandfield Exhibition Gallery.

About Gerber/Hart: Founded in 1981, Gerber/Hart Library and Archives is a non-profit organization that seeks to collect, preserve, and make accessible the history and culture of LGBTQ+ communities in Chicago and the Midwest in order to advance the larger goal of achieving justice and equality.

About the Artist: Hal Shipman (born Denton, TX 1963) is a photographer and writer living in Chicago since 1995. He is a graduate of SAIC (MFA Photography 2024).

Host or Publisher Gerber/Hart Library and Archives