On this week’s episode of Working, June Thomas spoke with photographer, filmmaker, and activist Joan E. Biren (also known as JEB) about her groundbreaking 1979 book,
Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians. They discussed how she found a diverse cross-section of the community to photograph, the barriers that affected how the book came together, and the gratifying creative process of reissuing the volume in 2021. This partial transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.
June Thomas: I can tell from these photos that you didn’t meet these women, take the photos five minutes later, and move on.
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Joan E. Biren: If somebody had been identified to me as a possible person who might be in the book, I would usually write to them or meet them or talk to them without a camera being present. I would explain what I was doing. I would be very clear that this was meant for publication. I had designed special release forms that said, “I can be identified as a lesbian. I ca