Center for Sex and Culture

Seth Eisen’s HomoFile Salon/Discussion Evening

Thursday, September 27th 9:30pm - 10:30pm

Center for Sex and Culture

1349 Mission St, San Francisco CA

Carol Queen and Seth Eisen will be talking with Michael Williams, long-time friend of Samuel Steward and the executor of Steward’s estate. The topic of discussion will be the show Homo File, and the following topics:

• The importance of queer elders pass on the lineage of our tradition to the younger generation
• Queer Alliances as a path to artistic freedom and personal evolution. 
• Documentation and identity. 
• Why Phil Andros books are important (Andros was Steward’s pseudonym for erotic fiction)

We will also have time for questions from the audience about the show and for Michael Williams about Steward’s life and work.

We will get started at around 9:30 after the show and go till about 10:15-10:30. There will be refreshments served.

About Homo File:

CounterPULSE Summer Artist in Residence 2012 Seth Eisen along with Xandra Ibarra, SEP 20-30, THU-SUN AT 8PM

Seth Eisen writes and directs an ensemble of multidisciplinary performers/artists/collaborators in his new Queer history performance project titled Homo File, chronicling the life of Sam Steward, (1909-1993). Steward was a college professor, a prolific author of homoerotic fiction, an influential tattoo artist, and Queer sexual maverick who lived his last 3 decades in the Bay Area. His artistic development and Queer self-awareness evolved through friendships with Alfred Kinsey, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Thornton Wilder, George Platt Lynes as well as numerous other LGBTQ luminaries. 
 
The performance will feature Steward’s steadfast practice of documenting his private experiences and the development of his alliances amongst Queer artists in an era of few civil liberties. Steward and his circle helped shape contemporary Queer culture despite the repressive climate they existed in. The threat of being outed, tried and jailed were always imminent. Steward was a Queer maverick and one of many lost LGBT histories. Homo File will explore and contrast the lives and relationships between our contemporary Queer culture and that of the early-mid 20th century artists that required significant risks for survival. 
 
Homo File will combine puppetry, live music, video, movement and physical theater. The piece will continue Eye Zen Art’s tradition of creating visually dynamic, interdisciplinary work with a focus on Queer history, aesthetics and sensibilities. The piece will work to raise awareness about Sam Steward and his Queer and artistic milieu of the 1930s-through the 1970s. With Homo File, Eye Zen Art continues to harness and reclaim historic traditions of Queer culture to provoke community development, encourage essential dialogue, and promote social research into the lives of LGBTQ ancestors.