Gaiety in the Grove

40 years of photography
Susan Kravitz

This 2023 publication includes 40 years of Kravitz’s photography in the hamlet of Cherry Grove, Fire Island. The word gaiety implies a state of merrymaking, the quality of lightheartedness, or a reference to entertainment or amusement. Each of the photos, whether black & white or color, exhibits the subjects’ freedom to be playful on the stage, at Gay Pride, at the Invasion or partying at home. While the LGBTQI+ community has recently seen tremendous changes in acceptance by the larger world around us, it was still a dangerous time to be identified as gay in 1983 when the first of these 40 photographs was taken. And yet hopefully you’ll find the same joyousness in each of these images throughout the decades.