Overview

The first book by one of the most in-demand photographers of our time, Holding Space shares one hundred stunning photographs of queer, inter-racial couples, with first-person text about their relationships in this current time period. After the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, and during the Covid pandemic, photographer Ryan Pfluger set out to capture queer, inter-racial couples across the US. It was (and is) a time of intense upheaval and reckoning and Ryan wanted to capture that in the lives and on the bodies of these friends and strangers. The photographs, and the people in them, can be startling in their vulnerability, playful in their poses, and tender to the core. The interviews produce a range of short, revealing stories about the couples.

Full Product Details

9781648961571

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Gorgeous imagery coupled with prose raw as unmilled silk transforms Holding Space into much more than a picture book. It is a sensual celebration of love, one that refuses to apologize for any of the boundaries of the past. Beyond the idea of subject and photographer, beyond the idea of race or gender or religion, and beyond the idea of judgement. Pfluger does more than hold space here for their subjects, they create space for each of us to remember to love ourselves. - Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming A work of warm beauty-both intimate and majestic-that melds the eternal questions of how to be and how to love. - Torrey Peters, author of the national bestselling Detransition, Baby By creating a vessel for the multitude of forces at play in any interracial display of intimacy, Ryan has invited people into the most affecting, honest essences of queer love. - Bowen Yang, comedian, writer, podcaster In Holding Space, Ryan Pfluger explores something that feels increasingly forgotten in our isolated app-driven world: intimacy. Weaving his gorgeous, evocative images of couples with their own testimonies of love, loss, and personal history, Pfluger reminds us how vast and expansive the queer community is but also of our commonalities and shared experiences. Stunning, sexy, and emotional, Holding Space cements Pfluger as one of the most important chroniclers of queer life. - Ryan O'Connell, author, actor, and disability activist In E.M. Forster's Howard's End, Forster writes, 'Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.' In Ryan Pfluger's gorgeous book-with his gentle lens and exquisite light-the prose and the passion, the love between two people, is exalted. The images are clear and compelling, intimate, and deeply moving. - Jamie Lee Curtis, Award-winning actress, activist, and writer It was so moving to me to read this book at a time when our community is under attack around the nation and the world. These portraits draw, one by one, a vivid and loving line through all of that, and by the end, I was suffused with a quiet awe and happiness, even hope. Pfluger is a photographer of rare talent, and this book is a masterpiece. - Alexander Chee, bestselling author and journalist Through his images, Ryan Pfluger does indeed succeed in holding space for the stories of the couples he photographs. Stunning, open, and intimate, they illustrate the vastness of the LGBTQIA+ community, offering representation that remains scarce in this world and creating a place to just be. The stories of those being photographed are crucial right now and always. When more efforts are being made to criminalize and silence us, it is work like Ryan's that shows we are here and always will be. It shows the love and joy those forces will never contain. - Elliot Page, actor, director, and producer

A work of warm beauty-both intimate and majestic-that melds the eternal questions of how to be and how to love. - Torrey Peters, author of the national bestselling Detransition, Baby By creating a vessel for the multitude of forces at play in any interracial display of intimacy, Ryan has invited people into the most affecting, honest essences of queer love. - Bowen Yang, comedian, writer, podcaster Gorgeous imagery coupled with prose raw as unmilled silk transforms Holding Space into much more than a picture book. It is a sensual celebration of love, one that refuses to apologize for any of the boundaries of the past. Beyond the idea of subject and photographer, beyond the idea of race or gender or religion, and beyond the idea of judgement. Pfluger does more than hold space here for their subjects, they create space for each of us to remember to love ourselves. - Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming In Holding Space, Ryan Pfluger explores something that feels increasingly forgotten in our isolated app-driven world: intimacy. Weaving his gorgeous, evocative images of couples with their own testimonies of love, loss, and personal history, Pfluger reminds us how vast and expansive the queer community is but also of our commonalities and shared experiences. Stunning, sexy, and emotional, Holding Space cements Pfluger as one of the most important chroniclers of queer life. - Ryan O'Connell, author, actor, and disability activist In E.M. Forster's Howard's End, Forster writes, 'Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.' In Ryan Pfluger's gorgeous book-with his gentle lens and exquisite light-the prose and the passion, the love between two people, is exalted. The images are clear and compelling, intimate, and deeply moving. - Jamie Lee Curtis, Award-winning actress, activist, and writer It was so moving to me to read this book at a time when our community is under attack around the nation and the world. These portraits draw, one by one, a vivid and loving line through all of that, and by the end, I was suffused with a quiet awe and happiness, even hope. Pfluger is a photographer of rare talent, and this book is a masterpiece. - Alexander Chee, bestselling author and journalist Through his images, Ryan Pfluger does indeed succeed in holding space for the stories of the couples he photographs. Stunning, open, and intimate, they illustrate the vastness of the LGBTQIA+ community, offering representation that remains scarce in this world and creating a place to just be. The stories of those being photographed are crucial right now and always. When more efforts are being made to criminalize and silence us, it is work like Ryan's that shows we are here and always will be. It shows the love and joy those forces will never contain. - Elliot Page, actor, director, and producer

[A] stunning glossy-pages coffee table book full of photos of queer interracial couples loving each other on their own terms....It's a gorgeous book full of life and queer artistry. - them.us Manifesting as a hybrid of non-fiction, memoir and photobook, Holding Space is a moving reflection on the challenging reality of intersectional relationships....The result is a rollercoaster of emotions, illuminating the tension between public and private, how the conditions of a relationship can be safe and hostile simultaneously, and how life's biggest lessons are often learned the hard way. - The British Journal of Photography Online 'Gorgeous imagery coupled with prose raw as unmilled silk transforms Holding Space into much more than a picture book. It is a sensual celebration of love, one that refuses to apologize for any of the boundaries of the past. Beyond the idea of subject and photographer, beyond the idea of race or gender or religion, and beyond the idea of judgement. Pfluger does more than hold space here for their subjects, they create space for each of us to remember to love ourselves. - Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming A work of warm beauty-both intimate and majestic-that melds the eternal questions of how to be and how to love. - Torrey Peters, author of the national bestselling Detransition, Baby By creating a vessel for the multitude of forces at play in any interracial display of intimacy, Ryan has invited people into the most affecting, honest essences of queer love. - Bowen Yang, comedian, writer, podcaster In Holding Space, Ryan Pfluger explores something that feels increasingly forgotten in our isolated app-driven world: intimacy. Weaving his gorgeous, evocative images of couples with their own testimonies of love, loss, and personal history, Pfluger reminds us how vast and expansive the queer community is but also of our commonalities and shared experiences. Stunning, sexy, and emotional, Holding Space cements Pfluger as one of the most important chroniclers of queer life. - Ryan O'Connell, author, actor, and disability activist In E.M. Forster's Howard's End, Forster writes, 'Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.' In Ryan Pfluger's gorgeous book-with his gentle lens and exquisite light-the prose and the passion, the love between two people, is exalted. The images are clear and compelling, intimate, and deeply moving. - Jamie Lee Curtis, Award-winning actress, activist, and writer It was so moving to me to read this book at a time when our community is under attack around the nation and the world. These portraits draw, one by one, a vivid and loving line through all of that, and by the end, I was suffused with a quiet awe and happiness, even hope. Pfluger is a photographer of rare talent, and this book is a masterpiece. - Alexander Chee, bestselling author and journalist Through his images, Ryan Pfluger does indeed succeed in holding space for the stories of the couples he photographs. Stunning, open, and intimate, they illustrate the vastness of the LGBTQIA+ community, offering representation that remains scarce in this world and creating a place to just be. The stories of those being photographed are crucial right now and always. When more efforts are being made to criminalize and silence us, it is work like Ryan's that shows we are here and always will be. It shows the love and joy those forces will never contain. - Elliot Page, actor, director, and producer

Author Information

Ryan Pfluger (he/they) is a renowned photographer whose work often deals with recreating memories, memorializing objects, and how sexuality and gender influences image making. He received his MFA from SVA in Photo Video and Related Media. An artist and advocate, his work deals with visibiltiy for all aspects of the queer community. He was born and raised in Queens, New York, and now resides in Los Angeles with his dog Sarah Connor.

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