Leonard Zoe, Dunye Cherly - The Fae Richards Photo Archive (Hardcover)

In 1997, a small but spirited film with an unusual twist was shown at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, as part of that museum's famed Biennial. The film, which later had a limited run in New York, was called "The Watermelon Woman", and it told the story of Fae Richards, a black lesbian actress and singer from the 1930's. Fae Richards was a fictional creation, but the faux-documentary style of the film made her seem real. Even if one has not seen the movie, the book has the same effect: arranged as a photo album of Richards' life, it seems uncannily life-like. This challenging project is meticulously constructed by Zoe Leonard (the film is by Cheryl Dunye), and stands as an homage to those women whose lives were never recorded.